FLOURISHING bird-life, butterflies, moths and flowers have seen a South Wales farmer nominated for a national award - but he says he does it all to ensure the quality of his sausages.
Peter Davies has been shortlisted for the RSPB's title of farmer who does most to help Britain's wildlife because of the thriving flora and fauna on his 1,000- acre patch in the Vale of Glamorgan.
The 52-year-old's tenanted farm along the Heritage Coast, which he runs with wife Rosamund, is home to voles, owls, choughs, yellowhammers, peregrines, butterflies and an abundance of different types of moth from white-letter hairstreaks to dingy skippers.
The number of farmland birds across Britain has declined by more than 40% since 1970 and the commitment of farmers like Mr Davies to biodiversity has been praised by countryside groups and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
But he told the Echo the reason he enjoyed seeing the eco-system blossom was not so much because of the birds themselves but because it showed the organic system he adopted in 1999 was working.
Mr Davies, who has been farming around Southerndown along the heritage coast since 1976, said: "I quite like nature but you're talking to a farmer.
"For an organic farm to work properly, an eco-system has to be in balance and to measure that you look at the animals at the top of the food chain.
"For me, to run an organic farm properly you need biodiversity and that's what people get when they buy expensive organic sausages."
Mr Davies, who sells his beef, mutton, pork, lamb and arable products through his farm shop, Slade Farm Organics in Southerndown, is one of four British farmers who have been shortlisted from more than 300 nominated for the Nature of Farming award run by the RSPB and Countryfile magazine. The competition rewards farmers who manage their land in a way that helps wild plants thrive and provides food and breeding sites for wildlife.
His rivals are Henry Edmunds, who owns a mixed organic farm in Wiltshire, Michael Poland, who farms livestock on the Isle of Wight, and Patrick Bowden-Smith, who has a mixed farm in Fife.
Dr Darren Moorcroft, head of conservation advice at the RSPB, said: "This award is showcasing the very best farms and championing the vital conservation role farming can play.
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