Marcus Rashford's green-fingered plan to help wildlife for 25 years

He's already a national treasure for his efforts to help keep Britain's children fed during lockdown and loved by fans for his skills on the football pitch. But now Manchester United star Marcus Rashford is eyeing up a new goal - as a wildlife warrior.

The 24-year-old, who grew up in Withington and Wythenshawe, has lodged plans to help protect wildlife at his new £2.5million home in Cheshire. He hopes to create meadows and grasslands for mammals such as voles and hedgehogs, as well as nesting birds such as robins, chaffinches, wrens and blackbirds.

The striker's plans are designed to help wildlife thrive at his home over the next 25 years, the Mirror reports. A source told the Mirror: "Marcus is doing everything he can to ensure his new build doesn’t disrupt the environment. There are strict rules around large scale developments and he’s not putting a foot wrong."

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The England ace - awarded an MBE for his campaign to provide free meals for needy kids at the height of the pandemic - is having a five-bedroom mansion built on the site of a former golf course. Looking after the woodland surrounding the house was part of the planning permission agreement.

Documents submitted to Cheshire East Council show the star’s mansion will be ringed with walkways through groves of ornamental trees, before the gardens give way to open meadows and grasslands with mature trees and hedgerows. Rashford’s plan says work on hedgerows will bolster 'the extent of cover they provide and increase their capacity to support breeding birds and small mammals'.

It also promises to foster 'a species-rich habitat'. Details of how often the trees