We own just over 57,000 hectares of land across the north west of England, with nearly half in three national parks. Much of this land has been given statutory designations for its biodiversity value. We’re active in many projects and partnerships to protect and improve the wildlife on our land.
In Cumbria, we’ve been involved with the upland woodland and hay meadow elements of the Cumbria Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) ‘Wealth of Wildlife’ project. During the course of the project, which was completed this year, we planted more than 2500 junipers on our Thirlmere and Haweswater estates and completed planting and felling works on 30 hectares of upland oak woodland and wet woodland at Thirlmere. Overall across our catchment land in the North West we planted over 67,000 trees. We also completed a three hectare hay meadow restoration project at High Hullockhowe farm at Haweswater.
Our partnership with the Wealth of Wildlife project, along with Friends of the Lake District, has resulted in work to implement part of our Thirlmere Forest Plan supporting our own and the Cumbria BAP for upland oakwood. This has involved the felling of a 20 hectare area of conifers (Japanese Larch) at Great Howe, recognising their inappropriateness in terms of the neighbouring Great Howe Upland Oakwood SSSI (Sites of Special Scientific Interest). In the future, the area will naturally regenerate with native species, helping to protect the upper edges of the SSSI.
In Cheshire, we supported a Cheshire Wildlife Trust project that helped to teach local schoolchildren about the importance of tree planting. About 140 children were involved in planting 300 native broadleaved trees in Macclesfield Forest, as well as wildflower seeds, plugs and bulbs, followed by education sessions looking at woodland wildlife.
We are a partner in the Moors for the Future project which is working on moorland restoration in the Peak District. The project has already revegetated large areas of bare peat using heather brash, geotextile netting and grass seed. The next phase is to restore Sphagnum mosses which have almost disappeared due to industrial air pollution, wildfires and overgrazing. These mosses are vital to the hydrological and ecological functioning of the moors, as well as potentially sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. We have contributed to an initial research project which found that there was potential to reintroduce certain species. The current project is using field trials, some on our land, to test which species of moss work best in which areas. It will also look at different methods of getting the Sphagnum to remote parts of the moor.
In the central area, we’ve used external funding to carry out blanket bog restoration work at three sites at Anglezarke Moor, Haslingden and Clowbridge. This involves the technique of blocking grips (drains) to hold back water in the area, raising the water table and spreading the flow of water over a wider area. This helps to increase the water holding capacity of moorland, reduces erosion of the peat and encourages the restoration of the original moss.
At Belmont Reservoir, in our central area, a nationally important Black Headed Gull gullery has become established, supporting 4000 breeding pairs. Other gulls including the protected Mediterranean Gull are also present, holding nearly 4% of the British breeding population. While we’ve carried out work to support the gullery, we have also taken steps to improve the habitat for displaced waders and wildfowl at farms adjacent to the reservoir through agri-environment schemes.