A WEST Devon organic farm has won a top conservation award with a cash prize and the chance to look after the coveted Bronze Otter trophy for a year.
As overall winners of the Devon Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group competition, Fishleigh Estate near Hatherleigh receives a cheque for £1,000 and the coveted Bronze Otter trophy.
The farm is between Hatherleigh and the river Torridge on the poorly drained Culm Measures clays and has been managed since 1998 by Peter Walters.
Mr Walters said when the judging panel visited the organic farm they had been ?very impressed with what has been achieved here in a fairly short space of time.?
A bonus for Fishleigh and Mr Walters is that winning this award puts the farm forward for an even more prestigious award, the ?Silver Lapwing?, where the estate will be representing Devon at a national level. The results are expected to be announced in March, and Mr Walters is keen to bring the Silver Lapwing back to Devon. ?It is an honour to win this anyway, but we are quite excited about representing our county.?
Mr Walters said he was proud of the amount of statistical data on different species of wildlife which had been compiled on the farm. It was, for example, the home of the largest birdbox ringing scheme in this part of the country.
The 138 acre farm is grassland with Devon Ruby cattle and sheep and has recently completed conversion to organic status. There are 26 hectares of mainly oak woodland, which the FWAG judges say illustrates the mutual benefit of shooting and conservation.
An enormous amount of work has been done to replace lost hedges and to restore the existing ones, through the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, with considerable benefit to stock control, wildlife and the landscape.
The award judges described Mr Walter?s enthusiasm for wildlife as ?inspiring? ? he has recruited an ornithologist for monitoring 130 nestboxes and others to study the bats, butterflies, otters and fish in the Torridge. All this knowledge is brought together in the converted loft of a barn and forms a delightful educational and demonstration room for local schools.
The object of the Farm Conservation Awards is to show how good commercial farming practice and wildlife conservation can flourish together.
Devon FWAG is grateful to the Viscount Amory Trust for its support of the competition.
If anyone is interested in entering the competition next year or would like a free farm conservation advice visit, please contact FWAG on 01392 352012.