The project, which will be launched by Rural Affairs minister Alun Michael MP, centres on Needingworth Quarry, a gravel extraction pit in Cambridgeshire.

In partnership with quarry owners, Hanson plc, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) will restore the area over the next 30 years to create a wetland nature reserve, rich in wildlife with excellent opportunities for public access.

As part of the project, about 2,000 acres of land will be flooded to recreate historic wetlands.

Wildlife haven

The work will make it one of the largest recently created wetlands in Europe.

The RSPB says the scheme is vital to save several species on endangered birds and to protect other indigenous animals such as otters.

Graham Madge, from the RSPB, said: "We are going to be attracting birds like bitterns which at the moment the number of males is about 30 in the whole of the UK.

"We are hoping to double that number just on this one site."

Farmland 'vision'

He said the area would be going back to what the wetlands was like centuries ago.

"Four centuries ago, the vision was to drain the whole of eastern England and turn what was once swampland, into productive farmland.

"Now the RSPB and our partners want to turn that back and recreate wetlands for people and wildlife."

A number of organisations, local people and the mineral planning authority have had an input into the creation of the wetlands and the scheme has been nominated by the Royal Town Planning Institute for a European Planning Award.