TV botanist David Bellamy has called for fresh quarries to be dug in Warwickshire in a bid to increase the number of wildlife habitats in the county.

Professor Bellamy said current quarries and gravel pits in the area were providing vital homes for an abundance of species, from rare bumble bees to endangered creatures such as the great crested newt.

Warwickshire has lost more wildlife habitat in the last 100 years than any other county in Britain and intensive farming had helped drive away vital species, he said.

The ecologist added that with the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, farmers might want to consider creating quarry sites for both wildlife and recreation as part of diversification schemes.

He said: "Go to any of these farmers, and remember farming is always being closed down, they are having to diversify. A bit of creative quarrying on these farms with wider support could only help bio-diversity.

"If you look at farmland the soils have been so heavily fertilised they have become enemies of bio-diversity, whereas many quarries have a range of different habitats in one place."

Prof Bellamy addressed a Warwickshire Wildlife Trust conference on the importance of quarry sites in Coventry yesterday .

Species found on quarry sites in the local area include the small blue butterfly, the green hairstreak butterfly, which was once heading towards extinction in the county, and the large garden bumble bee.

Southam Quarry alone supports nine species of bumble bee and peregrine falcons have been spotted at a site in Nuneaton.

Steven Falk, keeper of natural history at Warwickshire Museum, said Government guidance which had previously recommended development on former brownfield sites could have jeopardised the future of wildlife in the county.

"Quarry and aggregate sites are the best wildlife sites in Warwickshire. Several have national significance, some are designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest, but some are very vulnerable and people want to do things unsympathetic to wildlife on them.

"There are 200 insect species in Warwickshire and another 200 plant species confined to quarry sites. If we had followed central Government advice on developing brownfield sites we would have lost 400 species of wildlife. Fortunately in recent planning guidance the Government has now changed what it classes as brownfield land.

"No other land use in the region has produced so many large, species-rich wildlife sites, or is so uniquely placed to help us create new ones for the future."

Mr Falk said his first impression of the county when he arrived 15 years ago was of an area intensively farmed with some of the lowest coverage of wildlife habitats in Britain.