A FARM near Abingdon has won a place in the second national round of the country's top wildlife conservation competition.

The 730-acre Sheepstead Farm in Marcham supports a mixed farming system, with 320 ewes grazing newly-restored heathland alongside 114 acres of woodland and 201 acres of arable land.

The Farmcare Farming and Wildlife Advisory group silver Lapwing award, in its 24th year, is regarded as the most respected conservation award for farmers.

The award is designed to find the farmer who has done most to encourage wildlife and enrich the countryside on a commercially run farm.

Farm manager Andrew Iles, 48, sows spring and winter crops, and stubble is left to provide food and habitat for wildlife over winter. Birds, mammals, and insects are encouraged by the creation of grass margins around all arable fields and new hedge and tree planting, while newly-created wetland, grazed by sheep, attracts many wading birds such as snipe and curlew.

Mr Iles said: "We must protect the countryside for future generations. You cannot keep on ripping out hedgerows. We have shown you can run a commercial farm and preserve the countryside but it is very labour-intensive. If farmers had better Government subsidies, I think more would take it on."

Mr Iles is a seventh generation farmer. He manages the land for the owner John Duffield and has been a member of he Farming and Wildlife Advisory group for seven years.

Giles Wagstaff, of the Oxfordshire branch of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, said Sheepstead farm was an outstanding example of how farming and conservation can be successfully and profitably integrated.

A shortlist of six finalists will be visited in July. The national winner will be announced in October and presented with the trophy.