We’d spent the morning scrambling up a hill to look for holly fern (see below) at one of its few locations in England. En route, we’d encountered some upland specialities like bog asphodel, wood cranesbill, yellow saxifrage and alpine lady’s mantle flourishing in the microclimate that the steep, rocky slope had provided away from the reach of grazing sheep.
This was only my second visit to our Haweswater reserve but my first in the sunshine. I was with my conservation leadership team and regional colleagues to see the progress that we have made with our landlord, United Utilities, in restoring upland habitats across the 3,000 hectare estate.
It was deeply impressive to see the speed at which the vegetation had responded to a change in the sheep grazing regime in the southern end of Mardale Common. Land managers like nothing more than seeing an early return for their efforts. It gives confidence to do more.
And that’s what we’re doing through a river restoration scheme in the Swindale valley.
The scheme (which is funded by a whole range of partners and shown in action below) is designed to improve the extent and condition of the hay meadow while also providing safe spawning grounds for migratory salmon (both the habitat and species are protected under the EU Habitats and Species Directive). This and other possible interventions are likely to improve our farming operation in the valley while also offering enhanced flood storage capability. The Cumbria floods has put a spotlight on the role of natural flood management and I think that it is right that land managers in the key river catchments do whatever they can to help reduce the risk of future flooding.
Our management at Haweswater is essentially a trial. We want to see how best to improve the wildlife and water resources in the catchment while helping to support the long term future of commoning in such an iconic landscape as the Lake District. It also offers us a great location to do diagnostic research on another of the Lakes’ species specialities – the mountain ringlet butterfly. We’ve embarked on a three year research project to understand the habitat preferences of this rare and declining butterfly with a view to inform future management not only at Haweswater but also across the Lakes.
And that’s the big prize for Haweswater, to transform the estate whilst also demonstrating the art of the possible to others.
The Lakes is a landscape that is much loved, but arguably underperforms from a wildlife perspective. While Brexit has created enormous uncertainty about the future support for hill farming and the regulatory regime that protects special places and species, I am confident that our work at Haweswater will demonstrate that it is possible to restore wildlife while respecting the special characteristics of the National Park.
More terrific work by the RSPB. Hopefully when this upland area of Hawswater has fully recovered, it will starkly demonstrate yet again, if yet again it is necessary, how damaging and destructive is the management of grouse moors for driven grouse shooting.