A friend of the family of missing chef Claudia Lawrence said it was encouraging the police were still looking for the 36-year-old as he visited the scene of the latest search operation.
Officers investigating the disappearance of Miss Lawrence were today continuing to search fields close to York University, where she worked in the kitchens.
Seven officers stretched in a line combed a newly ploughed field in the village of Heslington. They searched carefully, placing orange markers to guide them, and also examined hedges and bushes with long poles.
Thursday was supposed to be the last of a three-day operation sparked by new information from the public.
But it is understood the team may stay longer to complete the search although nothing of interest has yet been found. North Yorkshire Police said no digging is taking place at the scene.
Martin Dales - a friend of and spokesman for Miss Lawrence's father Peter - visited the scene this morning.
He said: "I think the first thing to say is after a year it's obviously very encouraging that the police are still physically searching as well as doing all the work they're doing in the backroom on the computers and interviewing people. It's amazing after a year this information seems to have only just come out."
Miss Lawrence, 36, has been missing from her home in York for just over a year and police said they are treating her disappearance as a murder inquiry.
Miss Lawrence was last seen near her home in Heworth, York, on March 18 last year. She failed to arrive for work the following morning and police believe she may have come to harm at the hands of someone she knew.
Miss Lawrence was due to walk the three miles to work at York University on March 19 for a shift beginning at 6am but she never turned up. She left her cards, cash and passport behind but her mobile phone - a silver Samsung D900 - and blue Karrimor rucksack in which she carried her chef's whites have yet to be located.
