£5m of funding from Garfield Weston Foundation will help ‘turn the tide’ for nature on a huge scale says the National Trust

£5m of funding from Garfield Weston Foundation will help ‘turn the tide’ for nature on a huge scale says the National Trust - National Trust

A red squirrel sits on a tree branch that is covered in moss — Garfield Weston Foundation funding will help create a woodier landscape in North Devon that could support the reintroduction of rare red squirrels in the future ©National Trust Images Rob Coleman

The battle against both the nature and climate crises is being stepped up on land cared for by the National Trust at four locations in England, as a new three-year project to deliver landscape scale nature conservation gets underway.

Thanks to funding support of £5m from the Garfield Weston Foundation, ‘Turning the tide for nature’, will create landscapes rich in wildlife and take action to reduce the impact of climate change at Arlington Court in North Devon, Wallington in Northumberland and areas of the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales.

By 2028 approximately 4164 hectares (10289 acres), an area similar in size to Portsmouth, of habitats will be restored or created. This includes priority habitats such as blanket bog in peatlands, wetlands, wood pasture, grasslands and rivers.

Many of the UK’s most threatened and endangered wildlife including water vole, pine marten, red squirrel and white-clawed crayfish are also set to benefit from the ambitious project.

Ben McCarthy, Head of Nature and Restoration Ecology at the National Trust said: “As Europe’s largest conservation charity, we have the responsibility to think big and take bold action for nature and the climate across the land in our care. The locations selected here have huge potential to dramatically increase the benefit they offer for boosting biodiversity and capturing carbon at a landscape scale. By taking impactful actions on the ground, working with others and with support from funders like the Garfield Weston Foundation, we will create bigger, better and more joined up habitats rich in wildlife.”

Over the next three years funding from the Garfield Weston Foundation will help create a wilder, wetter and woodier landscape in North Devon. This includes 75 hectares (185 acres) of woodland to encourage the natural expansion of woodland specialists, like the pine marten, into the estate and longer term, the reintroduction of rare red squirrels.