Couple set the place buzzing with wildlife

IT WORKED for Kevin Costner’s character in

“If you build it they will come” could describe what has happened since Helen and Christopher Neave took over 25 acres of rough pasture on the outskirts of Kirk Hammerton.

With the help of the Woodland Trust, in just seven years the land has become a haven for wildlife.

Now Mr Neave, who founded the laser eye surgery company Ultralase and his wife Helen, a former surgeon, have taken on a new project.

Last year they acquired a second piece of land, Bank Woods, a 111-acre site of ancient woodland and grass pasture near Harrogate, and are working with the Woodland Trust to plant more trees.

Neither had an ecological background before starting their first project, and Mrs Neave said she was struck by how quickly animals and birds moved in once a home had been created for them. She said: “As you stand on our boundary path overlooking the wheat fields next door you are struck by the monoculture of farming. No birds, no wildlife.

“Then you look over here and the place is buzzing. We have hares, deer, foxes, voles, other smaller animals and plenty of invertebrates – and the beginning of all this biodiversity was the trees.”

Of the couple’s 18,000 trees 2,300 are from the Woodland Trust. More than seven acres of wildflowers have also been planted. Like Kirk Hammerton, Bank Woods is open to the public and is run on a business footing under the name Make It Wild.