Tamara Hall, of Molescroft Grange Farm, is one of two Yorkshire farmers who have reached the last four in the RSPB's Northern England Nature of Farming Award.

The other is Simon Waines, of Head Farm, Flamborough Head.

The finalists were selected from entrants across northern England for the exceptional contribution they have made helping birds and other wildlife on their farms.

Tamara said: "I hope to show that it is possible to combine producing high quality food and profitable farming with caring for the environment and maintaining employment for local people."

Her 509-hectare farm grows wheat, oil seed rape, winter and spring barley and vining peas. Twenty three hectares of grassland is used for horses and haymaking, and an additional 13 hectares for finishing store lambs.

Tamara estimates that 10 per cent of the farm is managed for wildlife, with grass margins around most of the arable fields. Wild bird seed crops and pollen and nectar mixes encourage breeding tree sparrows, yellowhammers, reed buntings, corn buntings and skylarks. The extensive grassland and margins are the hunting ground of barn owls, which nest in boxes set up on the farm. Ditches and hedges are managed sensitively so they function efficiently but cater for wildlife.

Since joining Natural England's Environment Stewardship Scheme, a large scrape with rough grassland has been created to encourage waders and wildfowl. Lapwings are already breeding on the site and curlew and snipe are often seen around the farm.

The scrape is visible from the bank of the nearby River Hull, so the public can enjoy the wildlife on the site.

Chris Tomson, of RSPB Northern England, who has been visiting farms across the region since the competition launched in January, said: "These two farms are fine examples of just how much farmers can do to combine good farming practice with help for wildlife.

"Farmland birds are struggling in the north of England, but farms like these are reversing the trend. Tamara and Simon have shown that it is possible to be a successful farming business and be ambitious about what can be achieved for wildlife."