Gloucestershire Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group's Silver Pintail Winner for 2008 is Ian Boyd from Whittington Lodge near Cheltenham. The runners up were Jonty Brunyee, Conigree Farm and Felix Appelbe at Woodcock Farm Owlpen.

The theme for the competition was ‘Skylarks and Yellow hammers' and Ian impressed the judges, Neil Harris from Natural England and Kevin Rylands from the RSPB with his outstanding knowledge of how to enhance wildlife on his farm. Ian enables farmland birds populations to thrive on his mixed arable and grassland farm by providing the RSPB's big
three:

- Winter food
- Nesting habitat
- Summer food for chicks

Ian has some really special farmland bids including Grey Partridge and Lapwing, and is hopeful of the return of rarities such as the Corn Bunting. His Hereford cattle graze the species rich grassland that provides the invertebrate populations on which the wild birds depend.

Ian Boyd's farm lies within Natural England's new farmland birds recovery target area and he is one of many farmers entering the Higher Level Scheme to enable him to continue his work enhancing bird populations, while still running a viable farm business.

For further information on the HLS scheme or to enter the Silver Pintail Competition for 2009 (Enhancing habitat for Barn Owls) please contact Jenny Phelps or Jeni Pring at Gloucestershire FWAG on 01452 627487 or email gloucestershire@fwag.org.uk