THE family of TV presenter Matt Baker are showing that a love of the countryside is in the blood by joining a scheme to help the region’s threatened woodland birds.

The Countryfile front man grew up on his parents’ organic sheep farm near Tow Law, County Durham, where his parents, Michael and Janice, are working with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to improve ancient woodland and create habitats for seven species of rare birds.

A three-year £9,000 Forestry Commission grant under the English Woodland grant scheme will help pay for work starting later this year to encourage rare species such as pied flycatcher and lesser spotted woodpecker to breed.

Under a woodland management plan, they will improve access, plant native trees, carry out coppicing, cut back overgrown holly to create open space for natural regeneration, and put up different types of bird boxes.

Baker, a former Blue Peter presenter who broadcast from the farm for BBC Radio 4’s Open Country earlier this year, said: “To stand in our ancient woodland is a magical experience.

“Mum and Dad have always been keen to promote wildlife on the farm, having already planted over 3,000 hedging plants and trees over the last ten years.

“It is great that the Forestry Commission are now helping with this grant to enable them to manage the woodland in a positive fashion.”

Wild birds are a good indicator of the general health of the countryside but the UK’s woodland bird population has fallen by 20 per cent in the past 25 years with species such as the lesser redpoll and willow tit crashing by more than 50 per cent since the late Sixties.