The first seeds have been sown in the 100-year process of turning Wyeswood Common into a species-rich landscape.

The 104 acre site near Penallt was bought by the Gwent Wildlife Trust in February after an appeal in the Argus.

Our readers contributed to the £600,000 it raised in just six months to purchase and manage the land.

The vision is to turn it back into a wooded meadow, thriving with plants and animals like it would have been in medieval times.

But Wyeswood Common has been managed intensely as a dairy farm and because of this, fertilisers and pesticides in the ground are not suitable for wildlife.

This is being addressed by performing a silage cut twice a year that should allow nutrients back into the ground.

The first took place in June and the next is due to take place soon.

Annette Murray has been appointed as project officer for the scheme.

She said: "Because of agriculture, species-rich grassland in the area has declined by 97% in the last 50 years.

"That is why it’s so important we get this land thriving. We are starting that process next week by ploughing part of it to see if greater butterfly orchid seeds grow."

Work has started on restoring hedgerows and 20 dormice boxes have been put up to gauge levels of the animal on the land.

There are also plans to put cattle or sheep on the land some time next year.

Miss Murray, a former park ranger in Epsom, added that the trustis planning to plant the first first trees on the site this winter.