A SCHEME designed to protect a threatened songbird in Burnley and vital peat bogs on the South Pennines has won national recognition.

Supporters of the Watershed Landscape Project have been presented with a UK Landscape Award for work on safeguarding the Pennine finch, otherwise known as the twite, and safeguarding the moorland above Burnley, Rossendale and Todmorden.

The South Pennine initiative will now be put forward for the European Landscape Award next year.

Work has been ongoing to restore hay meadows – a crucial habitat for the threatened twite – over the past three years.

Moorland in Worsthorne and Hurstwood is home to one of only a handful of breeding sites for the tiny songbird and the twite's fate is the subject of a recovery project being undertaken by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Under the auspices of Pennine Prospects, which promotes the South Pennines, the project has also been involved in recultivating peat bogs, a vital source of carbon for the environment.

Announcing the award, Natural Environment Minister Richard Benyon MP said: “It is a project with wide-ranging impact, a powerful expression of local identity and sense of place and is testament of the hard work of the people who have played their part in the formation of this distinct landscape.

“It is within an hour of where seven million people live and is an internationally important area for birds, a vital store of carbon, a place to visit for walkers and cyclists that enhances rural tourism and an inspiration to artists and writers.”

Judges particularly praised the efforts of the scheme in securing the active involvement of community groups and schools.

Youngsters have been involved in developing nature trails across Worsthorne's moorland in recent months.

More than 1,600 fields have now been restored, with the assistance of landowners, to support the twite's future.

The moors are also home to the South Pennine Walk and Ride Festival, which this year encouraged 5,000 people to explore the hinterland between East Lancashire and West Yorkshire.