Conservation work will get underway on the 1,000-acre Gwent Levels which will serve to compensate wildlife for the loss of habitat caused by the building of the Cardiff Bay barrage.

BBC Wales's Rhodri Lewis reports on work on the conservation project

It is hoped the Area of Special Scientific Interest will become a refuge to thousands of rare birds.

When completed, it willl be one of the most important rare bird sites in the UK.

Project director Mark Underhill said the water would rise by a foot to provide a home for the birds.

"Eventually there will be thousands of birds here," he said.

The 100-acre site still bears the scars of construction work

At the moment, the 100-acre patch of land on the shores of the river Severn near Newport still bears some scars from the construction work that has already taken place.

But now that a new sewage tunnel has been completed underground, the conservation work can begin.