Farmland handed back to river to create wildlife-rich wetland and curb flooding

The National Trust is handing back a patch of low-grade farmland to a Cornish river to create wetland habitat to help nature and reduce flooding.The scheme on a 1.7-hectare field alongside the River Tamar will effectively turn back the clock nearly 200 years, restoring the original flood plain that was turned into farmland by the Victorians, the charity said.It will create intertidal habitat on a stretch of the tidal Tamar at the trust’s Cotehele property, north of Plymouth, that it is hoped will attract wildlife ranging from curlew and little egret to otters, harvest mice, bugs and worms.