A DECADE of dedication to conservation has reaped rich rewards for a County Durham estate.

Lord Barnard and his Raby estate in Teesdale have been awarded a national Purdey award for game and conservation.

The judges, who included Prof David Bellamy, praised Lord Barnard and his five gamekeepers for "making a supreme effort and investment in conservation".

"Lord Barnard, as the owner, is the source of encouragement and funding, while the management and head keeper work with him on providing the ideas and putting them into action," said Mr Hugh van Cutsem, leader of the team of judges. "The whole concept has set an enormously high standard of conservation."

Mr David Clark, head keeper, attended the awards ceremony in London, with Lord Barnard. He joined the Raby estate ten years ago when Lord Barnard, who has always been interested in conservation, was about to begin a long-term policy.

So far it has resulted in the creation of ten wetland areas for waders and wildfowl; conservation headlands and two-metre wide grass strips round arable fields; a major hedge restoration scheme and, in the upland areas of the estate, a large heather regeneration programme.

The wetlands have attracted large numbers of birds, with new ponds supporting large populations of Canada and Greylag geese and the wetlands boasting reasonable populations of snipe, plover, curlew, redshank and kingfishers.

"Otters are also appearing in the wetlands, which we are very pleased about," said Mr Clark. "The Tees borders the estate and they have come up its tributaries."

Two hundred acres of set-aside land have been planted with wild bird cover, mostly in 20-metre wide strips, using different seeds to create winter cover for game and feed for songbirds.

Bird species and numbers have increased dramatically and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Game Conservancy Trust are carrying out a three-year survey of songbirds, due to be completed next year.

"It has been very encouraging," said Mr Clark. "We did not do a census before we started but we can see that lapwings, songbirds and waders have all increased dramatically.

"The breeds include red polls, linnets, tree sparrows (which have declined by 85pc nationally) goldfinches, and yellowhammers."

The estate has found that different species use different crops - valuable information both for the estate and to the organisations involved in the project.

Mr Clark pointed out that conservation was not cheap and he believed there would be greater scope for other farmers and tenants to plant wild bird cover on set-aside land if the Ministry of Agriculture paid a little extra.

"I am sure farmers would rather grow something on that land than see it doing nothing," he said.

A substantial increase in ground nesting birds has been witnessed through the management of the estate. Alongside the lapwing are oyster catchers and curlew.

The two-metre grass strips have been sown with cocksfoot, timothy and red fescue to encourage birds, particularly partridges and skylarks, to nest. The grass also provides a habitat for insects to over-winter and provides food for the birds.

The grass strips are separated from the crop by a metre strip of sterile land and the first six metres of crop are left unsprayed.

The estate has always had a strong policy on hedgerows, encouraging tenants to keep them. A major project on restoring gappy hedges has begun.

The estate began a project several years ago to regenerate heather on some of its upland ground and this has proved so successful that it has now been extended to a nearby area of moorland.

Wall restoration has also begun in the upland area, with native trees such as rowan and blackthorn planted in some of the ghylls to encourage the population of black grouse.

Elsewhere on the estate new woods have been planted to encourage game and wildlife, with rides and deer lawns created to improve the management of the deer populations.

Areas of the deer park have been fenced off to enable the deer to fawn, and the size of the deer park has been increased.

The overall results of the conservation schemes have seen huge benefits for wildlife in general and a big increase in game stocks.

For the estate, it has allowed shooting days to increase from one day nine years ago to 40 days last year.

Mr Clark has nothing but respect and admiration for Lord Barnard and his determined efforts and large investment in conservation. "Lord Barnard has said he can remember seeing fields of lapwing and golden plover as a boy and he wants to see them back ... they are now coming back," said Mr Clark