THE recently-appointed chairman of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group in North Yorkshire, Pauline Nicholson, is out to persuade farmers of the benefits of looking to changing their outlook.

Mrs Nicholson - the first woman to hold the post - said: "In the past we saw many hedgerows and trees taken out on farms to improve efficiency but now there is growing concern about global warming and today everyone is so much more conscious of its implications."

During her term of office, Mrs Nicholson hopes to get more farmers and landowners aware of the benefits - both environmental and financial - in using less fertiliser and of planting native trees on their land.

"Money can be saved on fertiliser on crops, for instance, by using less because there is not the demand there was three or four years ago."

Yorkshire born and bred, Mrs Nicholson came from Oldstead, near Kilburn, and married her husband Trevor, from Bedale, in 1972.

She had studied languages at university and first became interested in farm conservation when she and her husband took a farm near the Thirsk by-pass.

Today they farm some 1,000 acres on a mixed farm at Thornton Stud, Thornton-le-Street, Thirsk, where Mrs Nicholas also has 28 horses. She specialises in breeding for National Hunt racing and among her successes has been the Foxhunter event at Aintree where her horse Gunner Welburn was a winner and, at Cheltenham, her Wild Dream was placed second.

Her interest in conservation extends to birdlife; she is a bird recorder for the British Trust for Ornithology.

By re-planting hedges and trees, wildlife in general can thrive, Mrs Nicholson said. She and her husband became involved with FWAG when they decided to re-instate hedgerows and ponds which had been lost on their land.

The new vice-chairman of FWAG is Andrew Corner of Baldrence Farm, Easingwold. Two new farmers have joined the committee, Alison Brayshaw and Mark Exelby, both from Grewelthorpe.

FWAG which is based at South Parade, Northallerton, promotes an advisory service to identify, safeguard and link wildlife habitats across the whole farm operation, said Philip Lyth, the senior conservation officer.

As a result of receiving funding from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, it is now offering free advice on conservation, he said. "It can be given to any farmer or landowner with more than 10 hectares of land who has not received a similar funded visit in the last three years."

Updated: 11:46 Thursday, December 20, 2001