Farmers are working with the National Trust (NT) to create hundreds of hectares of woodland to support bird populations and promote sustainable farming in Dorset.

Through a government-funded nature-friendly farming programme, NT is helping its tenant farmers in Purbeck to boost local wildlife populations. The scheme aims to establish 380 ha of wildlife-rich habitat in the district.

Over the next six years, farmers will plant 60,000 trees and bushes to create wood pasture, providing birds with feeding, breeding and roosting habitat.

Declining birds to benefit

NT hopes the initiative will benefit species such as Yellowhammer, Common Linnet and European Goldfinch, as well potentially allowing the recovery of scarcer summer visitors including European Turtle Dove and Common Nightingale.

The project is financed through a taxpayer-funded environmental land-management scheme.

Ben Cooke, area ranger for NT at Purbeck, said: “We haven’t yet lost Purbeck’s soundscape but over the last 70 years its volume has quietened, with some birds – and their respective birdsong – disappearing altogether.

“By restoring wood pasture, we want to reverse this trend and bring back a cacophony of birdsong and the hum of insects.