Individual donations have helped raise £241,205 for the Hockley Meadows Farm appeal, bringing the working farm, and conservation area, into the hands of a Wildlife Trust.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT) recently moved in the first cows and sheep at Hockley Meadows Farm near Winchester, after the charity successfully purchased the land.
A fundraising appeal to help meet the £200,000 price of the 31-acre farm in Twyford exceeded its target, with days to go before the deadline.
The charity received more than 1,800 individual donations to the appeal, as well as donations from charitable foundations and corporate supporters.
These, combined with a gift left to the Trust in a Will, meant that the farm sale could go ahead.
The Wildlife Trust said: "Our staff are busy on the farm making improvements to the fencing and barns and our first animals, a flock of sheep and a herd of British White cattle, have already moved onto site."
'Significant area'
Hockley Meadows Farm sits within a significant area of floodplain meadow in Twyford, which supports key species such as water vole, otter, marsh marigold and the rare southern damselfly.
Water meadows bursting with wildlife used to be a common sight in the Itchen Valley but between 1976 and 1994 over 45% of species-rich floodplain grassland in Hampshire was lost.
On top of this, changes in management of the remaining water meadows have also lead to "catastrophic declines" in species such as lapwing and snipe.
The charity wants to manage the site to benefit wildlife and as a working farm for grazing herd of cattle and sheep.
