A GROUP of 20 farmers have been given X to help improve more than 4,500 hectares of land.

The group of Wallop Brook famers have been given the amount from the government to improve the natural environment in the Wallop Brook river catchment area.

The financial boost means the farmers can now work with a conservation expert and farm advisor from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, in their attempt to find the best ways to deliver the improvements.

The farmers are one of 37 groups to receive the funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the latest round of the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund awards.

Alison Cross, of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, said: "I'm delighted to be working with this group of committed and passionate farmers.

"I believe that together we can achieve significant results for wildlife and the wider environment.

"In this first year we will be taking a close look at soil health and how it can be improved. Getting the soil right is fundamental to the health of our crops, rivers and wildlife.

"We will also be starting a programme of detailed wildlife surveys to help us ensure that we are targeting our work in the right way."

As well as producing food, the farmers are managing a range of important natural, historical and cultural assets including the brook itself, floodplain meadows and pastures, ancient woodlands and footpaths.

Their efforts will aim to provide improved habitats for wildlife to aid conservation of important species, including water vole and brown trout, brown hare, bats and moths.

Farming minister George Eustice said: "This fund is contributing to an important step change in nature conservation by encouraging and supporting people who bring farmers, foresters and other land managers together to improve the local natural environment at a landscape scale.

"It is particularly encouraging to see how many high quality applications we received, which we hope to replicate across the countryside stewardship scheme due to simpler wildlife offers being introduced this year."

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