TWO national parks are set to be connected by a nature hedgerow corridor.

The South Downs National Park and the New Forest National Park will benefit from The Hampshire Hedge project, launched by countryside charity CPRE Hampshire.

Hedgerows play an important role in boosting biodiversity, capturing carbon, improving food production and enhancing rural communities.

CPRE Hampshire says the countryside has lost over half of all hedgerows since 1945 and it's time for a change.

The Hampshire Hedge will wind its way through the central heart of Hampshire parishes and link woodlands, meadows, local nature reserves and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).

It will start from Copythorne in the New Forest and finish at Compton, on the edge of the South Downs, near Winchester.

Ellie Banks, hedgerow officer at CPRE Hampshire, said: “The Hampshire Hedge offers communities a great opportunity to work together to restore and plant hedges in their local areas.

"We provide training on the traditional crafts of hedgelaying and offer some great resources to help communities learn surveying and hedgerow management to achieve the full benefits of their rich offerings.”

The charity is appealing to the public to help fund the scheme via donations.

Boyd McCleary, Vice Chair of CPRE Hampshire, said: "As a charity, we rely on donations to be able to deliver on work for our local countryside and this means that any donations we receive from individuals, communities and local businesses, will be matched and doubled.

"The Hampshire Hedge is not just ambitious but it’s vital to our work in the Hampshire countryside.

"We would urge people to make their donations between 12pm on Thursday 20 and 12pm on Thursday 27 April so we can fully make use of the funding opportunity."