Castle Howard: The much-loved Yorkshire stately home which is aiming to reintroduce beavers

The modern-day bank with a difference will provide high integrity nature shares for businesses to purchase and contribute to nature restoration.

The restoration will follow rewilding principles and transform arable land to a mosaic of newly created grassland, shrubland, ponds and reedbeds, whilst enhancing streams, ditches and woodlands.

It will also include the introduction of sustainable grazing livestock, rewilding species like beavers, which are believed to have been hunted to extinction in England by the 13th century, and seeding local plant species to attract rare native birds back to the area, such as turtle doves.

The estate, which was established in the 18th century, has already championed the threatened turtle dove, which flies 11,200km to reach North Yorkshire from Mali in Africa each spring.

Their population has declined in both the UK and Europe to such an extent there may now be fewer than 100 birds, which 50 years ago were classed as common, nesting in Yorkshire.

The estate has taken part in surveys for the North Yorkshire Turtle Dove Project, involving Heritage Lottery, North York Moors National Park, Forestry Commission and Howardian Hills National Landscape and the RSPB, to help the birds.

Set within the Howardian Hills National Landscape, the Bog Hall site has been selected for its substantial biodiversity uplift potential.

As the name suggests, it is boggy terrain, making it extremely valuable from an ecological perspective. Castle Howard’s Great Lake has already been designated as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, particularly for its wintering wildfowl and passage birds, making it an ideal location for a project of this kind.

The project is expected to generate nearly 200 per cent biodiversity uplift and sequester more than 30,000 tonnes of CO2 over 30 years.

Other forecast ecological benefits include:

• A 250 per cent increase in bat numbers due to more insects

• Grazing with cattle increases flowering plant diversity by 60 per cent, leading to a 140 per cent rise in bees and butterflies

• Using pigs increases floral diversity by 54 per cent.

Environment Bank says the project also has the potential to enhance the agricultural productivity of farmland on the Castle Howard Estate and the wider area by creating habitats where pollinators can thrive.

Emma Toovey, the firm’s chief ecology officer, said: “We’ve had the pleasure of working closely with the Castle Howard Estate team, who are passionate about protecting the natural world.

"This project is particularly exciting for us, not only due to its potential benefit for nature but also for the unique opportunity to contribute to the restoration of historic natural features on a nationally significant heritage site.

"The naturally wet and boggy site provides the ideal conditions to nurture and re-establish a vast range of flora and fauna.

"Most exciting of all perhaps, are our ambitions to reintroduce beavers.”

The site at Castle Howard will form part of Environment Bank’s national network of habitat banks to generate biodiversity units that developers can buy to satisfy biodiversity net gain planning requirements.

Separately to Environment Bank project the estate has been tackling non-native invasive species, including Himalayan Balsam and rhodedendrons, for several years.

It is two years since the estate unveiled a 15-year masterplan to safeguard its future, including responding to a range of current environmental issues by evolving the way it approaches land management.

Nicholas Howard, who took over the reins of the estate a decade ago, said: "Castle Howard has a 300-year history as a custodian of the natural environment, and we now have a key role to play in responding to the ecological challenges we face today.

"We know we must take quick and urgent action to combat biodiversity loss and help turn the tide on climate change.

"These plans will ensure we create a positive legacy for our local communities and the wider environment in which they live, securing the future of the estate for generations to come."