A SOUTH Lakeland farmer is doing his bit for the environment and wildlife after joining up with the RSPB on a conservation project on his land.

John Atkinson, who runs Pyes Bridge Farm, near Milnthorpe, is restoring 15 acres of wet grassland, which he hopes encourage breeding waders such as lapwings, snipe, curlews and oyster catchers.

He will do this by creating of shallow-edged pools called scrapes, which provide feeding areas for the birds and also by sowing spring cereals in the adjacent fields which provide extra nesting habitat for some waders and farmland birds.

The aim is to combat the decline in Cumbria’s wet grasslands which have disappeared over the past 50 years due to land drainage and agricultural change. With this loss, the populations of breeding wading birds in the area have also declined.

Mr Atkinson said: “I am excited at the prospect of increasing the wildlife on the farm and it’s great that HLS allows us to achieve this by farming in an environmentally friendly way.”

As well as the wetland restoration, he is putting in a range of other measures to encourage farmland bird species that have seen recent dramatic population declines such skylarks, tree sparrows and grey partridges.

Mr Atkinson has been working with Richard Storton, the RSPB’s Morecambe Bay Wetland Adviser, who helped him plan the project and enter Natural England’s Higher Level Stewardship , a grant scheme that rewards farmers and other land managers for supporting important species and habitats.

“By taking a few simple steps for nature, John has made his farm much more attractive to wildlife,” said Mr Storton. “I am really looking forward to visiting him later in the spring; with a bit of luck, there will be a marked increase in wetland and farmland birds on his land.”

Funded by the Environment Agency and Natural England through its Wetland Vision programme, Richard Storton has advised ten farms on wetland restoration projects over the past 18 months.

His work forms part of Morecambe Bay Futurescapes, a landscape-scale conservation project that aims to restore and create a network of wildlife-rich wetland habitats extending onto the coastal plain that surrounds Morecambe Bay and along the adjacent river valleys of the Duddon, Leven, Kent, Keer, Lune and Wyre. New wetlands like this can often help alleviate local flooding problems, as well as restore wonderful places for wetland wildlife.