A conservation charity is appealing for help to buy more than 100 acres of land.

The Woodland Trust is hoping to raise £750,000 needed to ensure the future of farmland in Hucking, a hamlet between Sittingbourne and Maidstone.

It has been given an option to buy the plot by the landowner but must do so by the end of May, otherwise it will go on the open market – and the charity fears it could be lost to a developer.

VIDEO: Hucking. Courtesy of The Woodland Trust

More than £320,000 has been raised so far through public donations but a further £450,000 is needed.

If the funds are raised, the trust has big plans for the area, which is next to Hucking Estate, which the charity bought in 1997.

It hopes to tear down the barbed wire fencing surrounding the site, to allow visitors to explore the area.

The trust hopes trees and shrubs will flourish and wildlife will thrive on the 116-acre site, part of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and home to threatened species including birds, such as the linnet, and the small heath butterfly.

Clive Steward, the trust’s Hucking Estate site manager, said: “We need to seize this unique opportunity and make sure that this land becomes a rich and diverse habitat.

“By letting some of the area naturally regenerate, the landscape will be released from human influence.”

Chalk grassland has seen an 85% decrease in the Kent Downs, says the trust, and new farming methods took their toll in the 20th century, damaging areas of ancient woodland, hedgerows and chalk grassland around Hucking,

The trust’s 573-acre estate was its biggest woodland in England when it was bought and since then more than 230,000 trees have been planted.

Hucking is one of the trust’s top 10 bluebell woods and is home to 10 species of threatened birds, along with 21 different types of butterflies and three species of bat.

To donate or for more details visit woodlandtrust.org.uk/huckingappeal or call 0330 333 3300.