A new generation of near-extinct birds have been hatched in Cambridgeshire in a world-first captive breeding project.

Black-tailed Godwits, of which there are fewer than 50 pairs left in the wild, rely on wetland sites to breed - particularly in Cambridgeshire.

Godwit eggs laid in the Nene and Ouse Washes, nearby arable fields, and "lifeboat wetlands" near the Ouse Washes have been collected.

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) manage the "lifeboat wetlands". 

The Cambridgeshire-born chicks, which are walking and feeding, are being looked after by WWT staff until they are able to fly.

The WWT and RSPB constructed the "lifeboat wetlands" to help improve existing breeding sites for the Godwits, as severe flooding across the Nene and Ouse Washes has damaged them.

Without human intervention, it's feared that the number of Godwits in the wild would have continued to fall rapidly.

The "lifeboat wetlands" are healthy wetland habitats that birds can access even when the surrounding area is flooded.

It gives them somewhere suitable to nest, and shows how wetland can be restored to protect wildlife.

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Thanks to the work of both the WWT and the RSPB, the chicks are much more likely to survive in the wild on their own now.

Each bird will be ringed and named, and a cohort of them will be released back into the wild near WWT Welney.

20 birds will be kept at the WWT's Conservation Breeding Unit in Gloucestershire to bolster future generations. 

The WWT and RSPB will be tracking the comings and going of the birds from their breeding sites to their wintering ground along the West Coast of Africa.

Each year, more chicks will be released into the wild to help boost the number of birds that return to Britain to breed.