A farmer has set about rewilding 200 acres of land to encourage birds back.

Alex Bates, a farmer from Cliffe, Rochester, has decided to take part in the project to encourage wildlife back to the marshes.

He believes the work will help "turn back the clock" to 40 years ago, a time when he was a child and he remembers there being more birds.

The dry summer highlighted the impact of severe droughts, with effects set to worsen with below average rainfall expected this winter.

Alex is trying to create 80 hectares of new wetland habitat on his farm to provide conservation benefits across the Thames Estuary.

Working with conservation charity RSPB and local ecological consultants EPR, Alex is restoring lowland wet grassland on his property.

The project involves a focus on ensuring a year-long water supply to the ground. It will use natural materials placed in strategic locations to hold back water and improve natural floodplains.

It is hoped that the increased water retention will create breeding habitats for birds like lapwings, redshanks and avocets.

Alex said: "We've had a really dry summer that has dried everything up and all of a sudden it's really wet down there.

"We've gone from one extreme to the other.

"If we can't keep the water, the birds won't come back.

"The project is to keep the water on site so the birds have feeding grounds and breeding grounds."

The farmer also highlighted the importance of other land owners joining in with similar projects. He said it "needs more people on board" as "very few people are doing it".

"The amount of wildlife is down everywhere. The more a farmer can do to make their land wildlife friendly, the better."

Alex has had support from EPR, an ecological consultancy. It gives advice on land-use planning which benefits biodiversity, communities and developers.

Dr David Smith, director at EPR, said: "We are delighted to have worked on this project with Alex, improving the biodiversity of his land and allowing us to expand the ecological network present in the Thames Estuary and Marshes.

"It addresses a lot of the threats we know are coming down the track with climate change.

"There's a phrase we use, "the wetter the better". So the wetter the habitat is, it tends to benefit biodiversity in all ways.

"If you have a really hot, dry summer, the idea is that the water from the wetter winters will be held back.

"So when we get to those drought conditions in the summer, the land will be wetter and hold a lot more bugs and more food for the birds which means they are more likely to raise their chicks there."

He went on to say that every bit of land is unique and everybody has an opportunity to help, regardless of the size of land they own.

"The more that everybody does off their own back, the better the world will be," he said.

They estimate the effects of the project will be seen in a few years time, allowing birds to see the available land while flying over.