The project is a three-year effort to reverse the decline of one of England's best-loved farmland birds. Once widespread across much of England and Wales, the species has been lost from many areas, with its remaining strongholds concentrated in East Anglia and southeast England. The cause of such an extensive population crash is not fully understood, although the birds' diet consists almost entirely of small seeds from wild plants which grow in crops.

The project's partners aim to work with farmers across the species' strongholds in order to establish a series of plots of seed-rich plant species on their land. Scientists from the RSPB will work alongside Conservation Grade's sustainable farming experts and Pensthorpe's aviculturalists to assess and evaluate the impact on the birds' diet and breeding success.