IT is a haven for wildlife and home to more than 900 species of flora and fauna, some of them extremely rare.

But it is not a nature reserve, rather a working farm which has shown what can be achieved through sensitive land management.

Stodhoe Farm, between Darlington and Middleton St George, has been in operation since the 1600s and is run by the family company H Walton and Sons as a mixed arable and livestock business.

John Walton, one of the farmers, and his wife, Babs, are keen naturalists and conducted a survey of their land to find out the strength of its biodiversity.

To help with the survey they worked with farm consultant Gordon Simpson, of West Auckland, County Durham, and members of the Darlington and Teesdale Naturalists' Field Club, including Darlington-based naturalist Don Griss.

The results have been astonishing, showing 901 different species on the 90 acres of Stodhoe Farm and some of the land from neighbouring Morton Farm, which was also included in the survey.

Findings included:

* 20 mammals, including roe deer, fox and water vole;

* 56 birds, including fieldfare, great spotted woodpecker, sparrowhawk, kestrel, jay and the endangered tree sparrow;

* 104 insects, among them 14 of the 20 British butterflies, including the rare white-letter hairstreak, ten dragonflies/damselflies and six species of bumblebee. Mr Simpson also found a species of an extremely rare shield bug, which remains unidentified;

* 387 plants, including the rare rye brome grass, which had not been recorded in County Durham for 200 years, and the endangered black poplar tree;

* 261 fungi, including only the seventh British record of cytospora tamoricis since the 1800s

* amphibians including frogs, toad and the three types of British newt, the protected great crested among them.

Although many of the species were already there, the Waltons have helped them through measures including tree planting and preserving hedgerows, ponds and rough field margins.

Mrs Walton said: "Ensuring the variety of biodiversity is important and it has been a labour of love.

"We have encouraged wildlife through our planting and management, which has ensured that the flora and fauna has corridors of habitat.

"One of the most important things we have done is taken advantage of the expertise of local naturalists. They have been wonderful and you really do need that kind of help if you are going to encourage wildlife on your land."

Mr Walton said: "We try to farm with the landscape in mind. Having all this wildlife adds interest to the farm and makes working more pleasurable."

Ecologist Mr Simpson said the key to the farm's success was ensuring that all aspects of the food chain were catered for, from the smallest insect and plant to the large mammals.

He said many farms could achieve similar successes and that many probably already had similar diversity.

Mr Simpson said: "This farm is not unusual. Other farms can be just like this with the right management. It is surprising what you can find if you look and we will carry out further more detailed surveys on the farm now."

Published: 14/03/2006