A NEW project has been launched to help boost wild bird populations on North-East farms.

The Farmland Bird Initiative will work with local farmers – especially in County Durham and Northumberland – to secure a brighter future for birds in the region.

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

The project is a vital part of efforts to improve the conservation status of farmland birds in the region.

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 farm with the needs of farmland birds in mind.

The project will target the fastest declining bird species including corn buntings, yellow wagtails, skylarks, ring ouzels and twite.

Corn buntings were once a regular sight in the North-East, but over the last 20 years have declined dramatically.

In 2008, only four singing male buntings were known in the whole of Northumberland.

The FBI is keen to hear of any other sites for this once-common bird and can offer emergency advice to farmers on how to help them.

The project team intends to set up a network of neighbouring sites covered by agri-environment agreements to provide a large enough area of land to help corn buntings.

Events will also be held for land managers, countryside volunteers and the public so they can find out more about farmland birds and the importance they play in the natural environment of the region.

The first event, Providing Summer Food and Nesting Areas For Birds of Arable Farmland, will be held at Farnless Farm, near Bishop Middleham, on May 20.

The project teamed up with Sedgefield 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 are summer visitors to the UK and over-winter in Morocco.

The North Pennines is a UK breeding stronghold for them.

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 a summer visitor to England, migrating to Africa in winter. Yellow wagtails have been in decline since at least the 1980s, most likely due to loss of habitat for breeding and feeding.