A CONSERVATION body has announced plans to introduce wildflower species to 60 hectares of hay meadows, pastures and road verges as part of a scheme to enhance an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).

Nidderdale AONB, which extends north to Masham and east to Fountains Abbey, said over the past three years 80 hectares of hay meadow habitat had been restored, using funding from SITA Trust and Higher Level Stewardship grants.

Together with a pilot project undertaken in 2011, the amount of restored hay meadows stands at 122 hectares, equivalent to more than a full grid square on an OS map filled with new wildflowers and pollinators.

Over the next three years, as part of its Heritage Lottery-funded Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership Scheme, the body aims to introduce wildflower species to 60 further hectares.

The AONB has also undertaken meadow enhancement works, where specific wildflower species were added to fields that already had a good number of common wildflower species.

A team of volunteers helped hand collect wildflower seed each week throughout July and August as different species flowered and came into seed and then helped sow the seed when the fields had been cut and grazed.

An AONB spokeswoman said: "The enhancement works are more experimental than the tried and tested restoration works and we are anxiously awaiting surveys next summer which will let us know if the seed has germinated and established."

For details about the project, email kelly.harmar@harrogate.gov.uk or call 01423-556035.