Cost
$ 270 /credit
Credits
Woodland Creation - Iford Estate, England
Biodiversity Net Gain Units
Voluntary Biodiversity Credits
The Iford Estate is a 1,200-hectare mixed farm located south of Lewes in East Sussex, England. A long history of large-scale arable and livestock farming since 1895 has resulted in wildlife becoming confined to relatively small pockets of land. In response, the project is transforming lower-productivity areas of the estate into habitat banks, restoring these areas through the creation of a mosaic of habitats, including woodland, and scrub, and grassland.
)
)
)
)
)
Project information
The South Downs National Park
Founded in 1895, the Iford Estate began as a dairy farm and is now managed primarily as arable land. In 2020, as part of DEFRA’s preparation for Mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain, Iford was selected as a pilot project to help shape the Biodiversity Credits Scheme.
The project is transforming lower-productivity areas into a mosaic of habitats, including woodland, grassland, scrub, and hedgerows. Voluntary biodiversity credits are legally secured with the South Downs National Park Authority, and restoration, monitoring, and management is planned from 2024 to 2054. Although the project is still at an early stage and habitats are currently establishing, monitoring reports indicate these habitats are progressing toward their target condition.
Over time, the restored habitats are expected to support species populations, reconnect isolated pockets of higher-quality habitat, and strengthen ecological resilience to climate change. Iford also contributes to Weald to Waves, a 100-mile nature recovery corridor across Sussex encompassing over 20,000 hectares of contiguous habitat that allow wildlife to move freely across the landscape, and supports the South Downs National Park’s target of managing 30% of land for nature by 2030.
)
Intervention
Habitat Restoration and Creation
Location
England
Standard
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)
Sustainable Goals
Project performance
The Earthly rating
The Earthly rating is the industry-first holistic project assessment. Earthly researchers analyse 106 data points, aggregating information across the three vital pillars of carbon, biodiversity and people. Projects in Earthly's marketplace all exceed a minimum score of 5.5/10.
)
Carbon
1,371
tCO₂e are avoided or removed under the planned landscape recovery scenario across Iford Estate.
Biodiversity
1,300
species have been recorded across Iford, highlighting the estate’s exceptional biodiversity.
Social
30%
of land managed for nature by 2030 is the South Downs National Park’s goal, and this project supports that target.
Project impact
Local impact
)
Positive for people
The project is located on privately owned land held by Iford Farms Limited. The landowner is responsible for delivering habitat creation and enhancement under the planning oversight of the South Downs National Park Authority. While the private land context limits the scale of direct community engagement and social impact, the project makes a clear effort to incorporate public and educational benefits where possible. Several designated historic and cultural features are present within the site, including ancient settlement remains, lynchet field systems, and Bronze Age and Anglo-Saxon barrows. These features have been carefully mapped, with habitat creation designed in consultation with archaeologists to halt damaging cultivation and safeguard archaeological integrity.
The project also considers landscape character, committing to guidance that protects key views, minimizes visual intrusion, manages recreation, and maintains the historic rural character of the South Downs and Lewes area. The creation of new woodland and associated habitats will deliver a range of ecosystem services, including improved air quality through pollutant filtration, increased water retention to reduce flood risk, local temperature regulation, and enhanced landscape amenity. Public access is retained through existing footpaths and bridleways that cross the site, allowing visitors to view restored habitats via a dedicated footpath.
To protect sensitive habitats and encourage species recovery, visitors and Biodiversity Net Gain unit purchasers are asked not to access restoration plots without prior agreement. Beyond site access, the project seeks broader societal benefits through collaboration with research institutions to study climate impacts and test innovative conservation practices, alongside educational initiatives, volunteering, and citizen science to build local awareness and long-term stewardship.
)
Good for earth
Founded in 1895, the Iford Estate began as a dairy farm rearing pedigree Dairy Shorthorn and Guernsey cattle, with cereal production remaining secondary until the Second World War’s “Dig for Victory” campaign, when all ploughable land was brought into arable use. Further intensification followed in the 1960s and 1970s through the drainage of wet marshland in the Ouse floodplain, and today the estate is managed primarily as arable farmland.
In 2021, a comprehensive baseline survey was undertaken to map existing habitats, including cereal crops, neutral grasslands, and lowland mixed deciduous woodland. The accompanying biodiversity surveys recorded an exceptional 1,300 species records across the estate over nine survey days. Notable and protected species identified include the nationally scarce bombardier beetle (Brachinus crepitans), the rare weevil (Melanobaris laticollis), and the endangered spider (Scotina palliardii).
The project seeks to address historic environmental degradation by restoring a mosaic of neutral grassland, mixed scrub, and woodland, guided by a detailed habitat creation, enhancement, and management plan developed by an experienced environmental consultant. Potential ecological risks have been assessed and mitigated, for example by restricting vegetation cutting to September–February to avoid disturbance during the bird breeding season. By increasing the extent and quality of habitats, the project aims to support the biodiversity present on the estate, enhance populations of rare and protected species, and strengthen ecological resilience to climate change. Habitat restoration will also improve connectivity with nearby Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Local Wildlife Sites, and the wider South Downs National Park, delivering broader landscape-scale biodiversity benefits.
How we assess for quality
The Earthly scoring process
)
Project gallery
Project pictures
)
)
)
)
)