Vote for the UK's 'greenest' farmer in the RSPB's Nature of Farming Awards 2008

The RSPB has teamed up with BBC Countryfile magazine, Butterfly Conservation and Plantlife to offer wildlife friendly farmers a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference.

The Nature of Farming Award is about celebrating the fantastic work farmers are already doing for wildlife - and a prize of £1,000 will be awarded to the winner.

Open to all farmers, the competition has replaced the RSPB's very successful Operation Lapwing competition that ran for five years. Earlier in 2008, farmers from asked the UK entered the competition and had to show the ways in which their farmland was providing birds with safe nesting sites, and food for summer and winter.

Good management of hay meadows, provision of buffer strips along arable field edges and sympathetic management of hedges are all measures which can benefit not only farmland birds but also butterflies and wild plants - hence the support and involvement of Plantlife and Butterfly Conservation in the award.

An expert panel has selected a short list of the very best wildlife friendly farmers from around the UK, and the public is now being asked to vote for the farmer they think should win.

To vote, click here to go to the RSPB's website where you can see details of the shortlisted farmers. Voting is open until 26 September, and the winner will be announced at the end of September.

Dense-flowered fumitory, one of the arable plant species now rarely seen but which could return to former sites with sympathetic management. ©Nick Stewart/Plantlife