A SCHEME to improve the environment and encourage rare ground-nesting birds is gaining momentum.
Newcastle City Council, with the help of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme run by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has created the first project of its kind in the area at Prestwick Carr Basin, south Northumberland.
Started in 1998, land that has been intensively farmed is being transformed into grazing and hay meadows, with five out of eight fields reseeded.
Council planning head John Miller said: "Without the Countryside Stewardship Scheme it is unlikely that the council could fulfil its long-term commitment to wildlife conservation at Prestwick Carr.
"By recreating wildflower meadows and grazing pasture we hope to see the successful return of many farmland birds that are becoming increasingly rare, such as the lapwing, skylarks and tree sparrow," he added.
Prestwick Carr adjoins a Site of Special Scientific Interest, which is home to many ground-nesting and meadowland birds, including curlew and snipe.
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