A Norfolk farm's efforts to boost grey partridge numbers have won a top conservation prize at the Royal Norfolk Show.

Hall Farm at Necton, near Swaffham, has won the Grey Partridge Award - the first trophy awarded at the 2023 show.

Presented by law firm Mills and Reeve, the award promotes the recovery of the grey partridge, regarded as a key indicator of the health of farm environments.

Farmer Edward Spratt runs the 1,000-acre mixed farm which combines arable production with pigs and pedigree sheep. 

Mr Spratt "I love my wildlife and I am very proud of what we have got here", while shooting has always been part of his family's heritage.

And he said managing the land for game birds has "colossal" conservation benefits for many other species.

"The way I farm and the way I look after my birds, I am feeding everything," he said.

"Everything else comes on the back of that.

"I have had otters 25 years ago, I have stone curlews, and I have all these plovers and  oystercatchers nesting on the farm, by doing things that I know work for me."

Mr Spratt said his father John Spratt, who died last year, would have been "most proud" of the award, having been instrumental in establishing partridges at the farm.

"About six or seven years ago I decided I wanted them to be natural wild birds, so what can we do that does not cost loads of money?" he added.

"The steps that I know work on my farm for the partridges, is we don't cut any wild bird covers down until the end of April, because February, March and April are extremely short months for food for birds.

"We feed them all year round, and then they need to dry out if we get wet times.

"So, around every field we have six-metre margins but I mow down the inside three metres next to the crop, to create some drying-out areas, and if some predators come they can nip back into the long grass. That is most important."