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The earth has literally been moving for birds on the River Exe estuary, as part of a project to improve their habitat.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has drafted in a laser-guided rotary ditch digging machine to create watery pools on the charity's Exe Estuary nature reserves.

Amber-listed birds such as lapwings and redshank need water ditches for breeding. Both species visit the Exe Estuary, but numbers were down in the spring of 2007 because the fields were bone dry.

Digging a better future for rare birds (PIC: RSPB)

Wintering geese and ducks will also be able to make use of the shallow pools, which cover an area of around 185 acres.

The RSPB's Exe Estuary site manager, Malcolm Davies, is hopeful the wetlands enhancement at Exminster marshes on the east side of the estuary will do the trick.

"We are confident of increasing bird numbers.

"We'll be taking out water abstraction licences for surrounding areas, and putting enough water into the ditches for the birds.

"They like wetted edges, where they can breed because it's these areas which attract the insects they use as food.

"Because of the very dry Spring we had, areas were bone dry in mid-April and the numbers of breeding waders were halved.

The scheme will help lapwings (Pic: RSPB)

"We had 13 pairs of breeding lapwing, for example, where usually we would have about 25. And the pairs which did visit simply gave up and left.

"This is one of only two places where they breed in Devon, the other being Dartmoor.

"One or two bad breeding seasons isn't a disaster though, so we are hopeful we can get them back - and more - with the help of the artificial flood conditions."

Both lapwings and redshank are amber listed as a bird of conservation concern, which means their numbers have been in long term decline but are now recovering.

There are only around 40,000 pairs of breeding redshank in the whole of the UK and although there are 156,000 pairs of lapwing in the country, the species has suffered a 37% decline in numbers of breeding birds over the last 20 years.