River to reclaim National Trust Cotehele farmland

The charity said it hoped the flood plain would attract new wildlife

The National Trust is to allow a river to consume four acres of farmland in Cornwall to encourage wildlife and reduce flooding, bosses have said.

The £250,000 scheme at Cotehele would restore a flood plain turned into farmland by the Victorians, it said.

The charity said it hoped the River Tamar habitat would attract wildlife, including otters.

Turning it back to wetland would also help lock carbon in the mud and trap sediment to clean the river, it added.

The "low-grade" land was converted to farmland in 1850 and has had cows grazing on it in recent years.

'Encroach naturally'

The first phase of the project on the 4.2 acre (1.7-hectare) field alongside the river near Saltash on the Cornwall-Devon border had begun, managers said.

Channels are being created to allow water to flow easily into the new wetlands.

Phase two, due later this year, involves breaching a 19th Century embankment to allow tidal waters to flow into the channels and across the field that regularly flood.

Project manager Alastair Cameron said staff were "aiming to help the water to encroach naturally".

Tony Flux, coast and marine adviser in south west England for the National Trust, said it was more sustainable to work with nature than against it.

He said: "To continue to repair the old embankment would have been a never-ending task.

"The work we are doing will enable the river to behave much more naturally, and adapt to the changes happening at our coastal and intertidal areas, which are always the first places to feel the impact of climate change."

The project was taking place in partnership with the Environment Agency, Natural England and the University of Plymouth, the charity said.