Virginia Portman, General Manager at the White Cliffs, said: вЂњAfter many decades of intensive farming, itвЂ™s fantastic to see this stretch of the Cliffs buzzing with wildlife again. Peregrine falcons are reaping the rewards too with one of the fields now occupied by 1,200 wild pigeons the falconsвЂ™ main source of prey. The skylark, whose melodic song has inspired many famous literary and musical works over the years, is thriving, with 48 birds counted at the site in the first week of May alone. Ground nesting birds are already benefitting from the changes, with numbers of amber-listed meadow pipit, and red-listed partridge and corn bunting on the rise. Other fields were planted with wildflowers, grasses and low input cereal to give cover for nesting birds and help create a mosaic of habitats across the Cliffs.ДЄided by a wet winter in 2019, this has resulted in an explosion of colour, including most recently a sea of red poppies. Since the acquisition, work has been underway to reverse 70 years of intensive agriculture which had depleted the land of wildlife.ДЄ вЂbumblebirdвЂ™ seed mix was sown in the autumn to provide birds with a supply of food through the winter and a range of nectar-rich plants for pollinators in the summer. The Wanstone site is part of 178 acres (70 hectares) bought by the National Trust in September 2017 after a successful ВЈ1million fundraising campaign that was supported by Dame Vera Lynn. As Britain marks National Meadows Day (Saturday 4 July) the conservation charity has revealed that the fields on the world-famous Cliffs are providing a haven for wildlife, including the nationвЂ™s songbird, the skylark, following efforts to restore the land to its natural grassland state.

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