ARABLE farmers are being encouraged to join a new scheme which could see them working closely with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The new Countryside Stewardship Scheme means they can receive funding for a range of measures designed to improve wildlife on their land.

Chris Woodall, from Ledsham, near Leeds, is one of the first arable farmers in Yorkshire to apply. If successful, the scheme will pay for such measures as hedgerow restoration and creating wildlife corridors.

Mr Woodall is a tenant on a 350-acre farm growing cereals and potatoes. He has always tried to farm in an environmentally sensitive way with good advice from FWAG and an agronomist.

"But previously that work has been a cost to us," he said. "The Countryside Stewardship scheme is a means of being financially helped for carrying out work which should benefit the countryside and wildlife on our farm."

He applied for the scheme after an RSPB survey identified 20 nationally declining species of birds on his farm, including skylark, grey partridge, tree sparrow, yellow hammer, song thrush and willow warbler.

The free survey was one of 26 to have been carried out on Yorkshire farms so far under a new RSPB initiative called Volunteer and Farmer Alliance.

The V&FA project provides farmers with a free, confidential, no-obligation survey of the birds on their farm using trained RSPB volunteers.

The results are given to the farmer in the form of a map indicating populations of farmland birds present.

They also receive a package of advisory material and a contact from where farm specific advice can be bought.

An RSPB specialist then helped Mr Woodall identify areas of the farm which could be submitted for the Countryside Stewardship scheme.

The plan included restoring hedgerows, creating grass margins alongside dykes and fields to act as wildlife corridors, managing hay meadows and planting special crops for bird cover and feed. The scheme tries to enhance the whole farm.

Mr Woodall had to commit to the scheme for ten years so any environmental projects must be practical and able to be incorporated into the current farming operations.

"A close working relationship with Defra and the RSPB will be important when the scheme is ongoing as most of the work, such as hedge planting and margin and bird establishment is to be carried out in the first five years," he said.

Janet Fairclough is the RSPB project officer who helped Mr Woodall apply for the scheme.

"I worked with Chris to find the best way of marrying the farming operations with the conservation side," she said.

"Few farmers actually like filling in forms, and we can help them identify conservation projects suitable for this new environmental scheme.