Bid to save early rewilding site that hosts rare nightingales and turtle doves ( www.standard.co.uk )

A farm left to nature years before “rewilding” rose to prominence has become a unique and important site for wildlife, say conservationists launching a bid to save it.

The owner of Strawberry Hill, near Bedford, stopped farming his land 37 years ago, with once-arable fields reverting to scrubland that is now a haven for a host of wildlife including threatened nightingales, cuckoos and turtle doves.

But the 150-hectare (377-acre) site has no official designations or protections, and following the owner’s death, there were fears the land could be sold and returned to agriculture.

After gaining a temporary stay of execution for the site, the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants (BCN) has raised enough money to buy half the land.