Wildflower meadows and grasslands are to be developed naturally across Ards and North Down in a "rewilding programme" by the local council.
The council says it is embracing biodiversity by encouraging a more natural development of native flowers and habitats throughout the borough.
And they have set aside areas in a number of parks and open spaces where changes to mowing and cutting regimes are helping to breathe life into the natural landscape.
The plan to improve biodiversity with the rewilding programme to help reverse ecological damage.
Bill Keery, the Mayor of Ards and North Down , said: "We firmly believe that embracing and promoting the concept of rewilding allows us to start to reverse centuries of ecological damage.
"It encourages the development of pollinator-friendly wildflower meadows which provide food and shelter for important pollinators including bees.
"The programme is at an early stage of development but we’ve already seen encouraging results.
"Swathes of white cuckoo flower and the common spotted orchid have been identified at a site in Killinchy .
"These are new species which have not been previously recorded at the site. It’s a very encouraging and exciting start.”
The white cuckoo flower, or lady's smock, is used by the orange-tip butterfly which flies from April until July as the feeding plant for its caterpillars.
Currently there four sites are being actively managed for rewilding. Those sites have a different cutting and maintenance regime which encourages a more natural grassland habitat with wildflowers.
The Council believes that rewilding will be able to provide a framework to inform policy and decision-making when it comes to the local environment and biodiversity.
And they hope it will provide the basis for the management and control of invasive species, as well as benchmarking areas previously derelict or in a ruinous state which can be restored to a positive environmental position.
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