YOUNGSTERS did their best to put the wind up wildlife when they took part in special Countryside Day.

About 1,600 children turned up for the event at the Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate, organised by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

And among the many activities they enjoyed was learning the traditional rural art of scarecrow making.

A life-size model created by youngsters at Castle Junior School, in Knaresborough, took top honours, with Rotherham's Maltby Craggs juniors and infants taking scone place and Harrogate's Oatlands juniors third.

Society president Peter Smith said: "Every school deserves a prize as the work which has gone into all the entries is tremendous." The society is best known as the organiser of the Great Yorkshire Show, which takes place from July 9 to 11, and the winning schools were given complimentary tickets.

During the day, children aged seven to 11 sampled a range of activities from fly fishing and dry stone walling to paper-making