A NEW project aims to boost wild bird populations on North–East farms.

The Farmland Bird Initiative (FBI) will work with farmers in County Durham and Northumberland.

It is a joint project involving Natural England, the RSPB, Northumberland National Park Authority, Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the North Pennines AONB Partnership.

Gary Woodburn, project officer, will advise farmers how they can manage their land in a way that encourages birds to thrive.

He will also help Natural England with agri-environment agreements that offer financial incentives for farmers to keep the needs of farmland birds in mind.

The fastest declining bird species – including corn buntings, yellow wagtails, skylarks, ring ouzels and twite – will be targeted.

The corn bunting was once a regular sight in the region but over the past 20 years has declined dramatically. Last year, only four singing male buntings were known in the whole of Northumberland.

The FBI is keen to hear of any other sites for buntings and can offer emergency advice to farmers on how to help them.

It wants to link neighbouring sites covered by agri-environment agreements to provide a large enough area of land to help the corn bunting.

Events will also be held for land managers, countryside volunteers and the public to explain the importance farmland birds play in the natural environment of the region.

The first – Providing summer food and nesting areas for birds on arable farmland – will be at Farnless Farm, near Bishop Middleham, on May 20.

The project teamed up with Sedgefield Borough Council before local government reorganisation to set up feeding stations for corn buntings.

The feeding areas are funded by the council, run by farmers and monitored by Durham Bird Club.

Ring ouzels visit the UK in summer after over-wintering in Morocco. The North Pennines is one of their breeding strongholds.

The twite breeds on the moorlands of the Scottish Highlands, northern England and North Wales, but little is known about the breeding population in the North-East.

The yellow wagtail is another summer visitor to England from Africa but has been in decline since the Eighties, probably due to loss of breeding and feeding habitats.