Conservationists and tech innovators have teamed up to help wildlife-friendly farmers maximise their efforts by creating "wild edges" for nature.

Nature movement WildEast has launched a new partnership with Land App, a cloud-based mapping platform, to develop an online toolkit which can be used to broaden hedges into rich wildlife habitats.

WildEast was launched in 2020 with the ambitious 50-year goal of restoring 20pc of East Anglia's land to nature by encouraging pledges from anyone from major estates to domestic households.

It estimates that 5pc of that total, or 62,500 hectares, could be achieved if all hedgerows were broadened into 10m-wide "WildEdges" alongside field boundaries and other features.

The new Land App feature enables farmers to generate a digital land management plan based on existing habitat features, by using their Single Business Identifier (SBI) number to import layers of data from governmental and research bodies.

The system will identify which areas would best suit the WildEdge pledge scheme, and suggest options for extending or widening hedges - and the resulting plan can be exported to WildEast's "Map of Dreams" which records pledges of all sizes from across the region.

Land App founder Tim Hopkin said the partnership with WildEast is "right at the cutting edge of the land management sector".

"Farmers and landowners, across the globe, are dealing with the most significant 'catch-22' faced for generations - the growing need to produce better quality and higher quantity food whilst also securing a sustainable and biodiverse future for our beloved environment," he said.

"WildEdges can go a long way toward solving this problem. Creating a WildEdge around your fields will transform local habitats and biodiversity, whilst also increasing field productivity and protecting our keystone waterways.

"The consequences of the Land App empowering WildEast with the data and technology needed to achieve their aims could be revolutionary for our environment, our landscapes and our farming industry. We’re extremely excited to get as many people involved with WildEdges as possible."

Hugh Somerleyton of the Somerleyton Estate near Lowestoft, one of the founding trustees of WildEast, said: "WildEdges are the easiest farmer-friendly way to pay our debt to nature whilst at the same time contributing to farm profitability by saving input costs and time.

"Moreover it is tapping an ancient pre-existing network that connects us all at landscape scale."

Fellow trustee Oliver Birkbeck, a director of the Little Massingham Estate, added: "Hedges are arteries of biodiversity connecting the landscape together.

"They are multi-layered cathedrals providing food and protection all year round. Rewilding is a fine thing, but the real gold is responsible farming and consumption. Our partnership with Land App will help enable responsible farming."

While the Land App helps generate detailed plans from farm businesses, all other WildEast pledges can be logged on its "Map of Dreams".

The latest version of the map, created by EastPoint Geo, will allow a wide range of multi-sector organisations, including community groups, to map different types of habitat in detail, and to identify opportunities to connect with other national projects, such as Nature Recovery Networks.

With farmland dominating the area, WildEast says creating space for nature at a landscape scale is crucial to its mission - but it is also about "democratising nature recovery and encouraging a commitment of any size".

More than 1,000 pledges have already been added to the map, including farms, schools, industrial estates, railways stations, churchyards and private gardens across East Anglia.

  • Farmers and land managers can access the Land App and see instructions for creating wild edges and land management plans at thelandapp.com.
  • All other WildEast pledges can be made at www.wildeast.co.uk.