State of Nature 2019: UK's wildlife loss continues unabated

Our farmers at Llyn, a golden stretch of coastline in south west Wales, are being rewarded for creating welcoming homes for wildlife. The area is involved in a scheme that makes payments to tenant farmers based on how well the wildlife flourishes on the land they manage. At Llyn, the farmers are helping us look after coastal slopes and healthland, as well as making sure neighbouring fields are sustainable and full of flowers to attract birds and butterflies.

Our approach to farming in Pembrokeshire is helping more than 22,000 birds, including skylark, chaffinch, starling, and lapwing. According to the National Trust’s farmland bird survey in Wales, there are 64 different kinds of birds living across nine of the tenanted farms in the north of the county. The farmers support birds and other wildlife by allowing some fields to remain fallow, keeping field margins free from chemicals, looking after grasslands and growing crops that offer protection and food.

The farmers we work with go to extraordinary lengths to produce tasty food while caring for the countryside and the wildlife that depends on it. This is no small task, which is why we recognise their efforts at the Fine Farm Produce Awards. This year Neil Heseltine, a fourth-generation farmer at Hilltop Farm in Malham, in the Yorkshire Dales, won the prestigious Farming with Nature award.

Did you know trees are our natural armour in the battle against climate change? By looking after existing woodlands and the wildlife that call them home, we can grow a greener future together. Help our woodlands blossom and donate to our Woodlands appeal today.

Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire is the oldest nature reserve in our care, and last year we celebrated its 120th anniversary. These precious fenland landscapes are not only home to thousands of plants and animals, they also lock up carbon. We've created more wetland by using excess flood water from the river during the winter. This helps to lock away as much as 80 per cent of the carbon stored in the peat.

From capturing the energy of mountain streams and flowing rivers to bringing green power to a 19th-century mill hidden in a wooded valley, we're working in groundbreaking ways to reduce the impact we have on the environment. We already have 100 renewable energy projects up and running and by 2021, we aim to generate 50 per cent of our energy needs from renewable sources.

We know that climate change is one of the biggest threats to the variety of life on earth, so we're working hard to minimise the impact on precious wildlife habitats such as the Farne Islands in Northumberland. The islands are home to rare seabirds such as kittiwake, tern, puffin and skua. The increasing temperatures of our oceans means there are fewer sand eels for these birds to eat. Volatile weather conditions can also interfere with nesting and migratory patterns. Find out how we monitor and look after wildlife on the Farne Islands.

A colony of little terns at Long Nanny has had its most successful season for almost 30 years. The increase in numbers is largely thanks to our rangers, who camped out for three months to protect the birds' nests. This month they counted 54 fledgling chicks leaving the area to start their long migration to West Africa. Last year there were no fledglings as storms forced 40 breeding pairs to abandon their nests.

Our rangers carry our painstaking work to restore grasslands to attract or reintroduce rare butterflies, some of which haven't been spotted for decades. The marsh fritillary butterfly was recently found at Marsham in Devon after a 45-year absence. Last seen in 1974, the butterfly returned to the area following work to restore the culm grassland. Rangers took away scrub and woodland to make way for seeds of mixed grasses and flowers to grow. Native-breed cattle were also put out to graze to create varied vegetation.