Farm’s environmental commitments honoured with award

Robert and Peter Warburton, of Manor Farm, received a special commemorative award and a £100 cash prize after being crowned this year’s winners of the Nottinghamshire Farm Environment Award, sponsored by Buntings (Agri) Ltd.

Judges were impressed by the way the arable and livestock enterprises on the farm were integrated with their environmental management.

They also noted the sympathetic management of the grasslands and their surrounding areas to create a range of habitat for a variety of wildlife, and the success in creating and managing new areas of grassland to attract ground nesting birds.

Andy Guy, one of the judges, said: “The farm is using their HLS scheme to best advantage to achieve environmental gains on the farm while profitably integrating it into their commercial operations.

“I was particularly taken with their excellent hedgerow management.”

Runners-up in the award - run by Nottinghamshire FWAG - were Stuart and Mary Poole, whose farm boasts a number of different habitats that are home to a wide range of species.

Judges were delighted to see their flower-rich margins which are providing food for bees and other pollinators, and commented on the records Stuart and Mary have on the farmland birds they support along with the owl boxes and newly-erected tree sparrow boxes.

Mark Howe, another of the judges, added: “I was impressed by how conservation management has been achieved on both farms.”