AN ancient purple landscape is set to be restored on Brownsea Island to improve prospects for rare wildlife.

The Dorset island will undergo a five-year transformation to expand fragments of Stone Age heathland, in what is being described as one of the most ambitious conservation projects in the site's history.

A project by the National Trust and Dorset Wildlife Trust aims to breathe new life into the ancient habitat on Brownsea Island, with funding from the government's Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

Restoration involves cutting heather from existing patches and scattering the cuttings across bare soil from which new heather will grow.

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Meanwhile, dense areas of trees will be carefully thinned to let more light onto the woodland floor, again promoting heather growth, and allowing younger trees space to expand.

Purple heathlands once carpeted swathes of the south coast, but a drive for productivity in the 20th century saw many wild landscapes lost in favour of dense forests and farmland. Today, only one sixth of the UK's old lowland heath remains.

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Tim Hartley, lead ranger for the National Trust, said: "Brownsea has a rich and fascinating past and our heathlands are an important part of that history. But over the centuries, the habitat has shrunk and become fragmented.

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"Through this project we want to enlarge those pockets of heathland and knit them back together. Heathlands depend on human intervention for their survival and what we're doing is mimicking the work of our ancestors to make sure that the landscape, and the wildlife that depends on it, is still here in centuries to come."

The scheme is the biggest single conservation project in the 60 years the Trust has cared for Brownsea. Luke Johns, of Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: "Our nature reserve in the northern part of the island provides sanctuary for rare and threatened species. These heathland and woodland restoration works are going to link up habitats across the island creating more space for nature and the right conditions for wildlife to thrive."

Capital works, including the removal of 12.5 hectares of rhododendron and more 25 hectares of heathland restoration, will be completed by 2023. Some walking routes will be adapted during this time.

Brownsea Island reopens to the public on Saturday March 19.