Restoring Skiddaw Forest: Rewilding Cumbria’s Lost Wilderness

Impacts

Outcomes

The overall vision is for Skiddaw Forest to be a true wilderness, where people can become lost in the natural world and immersed in a wealth of wildlife. Woolly cattle and natural processes shape the landscape and human intervention is minimal. Woodland, scattered trees and scrub cloak the fell sides, petering out to dwarf scrub and willows as altitude limits its growth. Deep peat locks away millions of tonnes of carbon carpeted by luxurious sphagnum mosses that soak up water. Mountain streams tumble down wooded cloughs into the natural river channels of the Caldew and Dash Beck. Both abound with migratory fish seeking out gravel beds in which to spawn. Birds abound. The mournful whistle of golden plover mixes with the bubbling cries of curlew, while hen harrier and merlin hunt low over the vegetation looking for small birds and voles. Amongst the scattered trees, black grouse gather to dance in the early morning trying to attract a mate, as red grouse fly purposefully above the deep heather shouting go-back, go-back when spooked.

Pine martens hunt for food amongst the tangle of stunted oaks festooned with mosses, lichens and ferns. While eagles soar high in the sky watching for prey from afar. Skiddaw Forest forms a nucleus for montane restoration in all directions as the influence and breath-taking amount of wildlife is sought to be replicated by neighbouring landowners and farmers. This will positively impact people through improving their access to nature and offer an opportunity to encounter more diverse species. There is well established evidence to show that being close to nature benefits an individual’s well-being and therefore improves both their physical and mental health. Children will have the opportunity to experience more biodiversity, capturing their wonder of the natural world and creating a lifelong interest in nature. They will be able to learn about the animals, birds, insects and aquatic creatures that inhabit the land and water ways first hand, and not just from books.

Background

The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world with the loss of habitat and native species being consistently reported since 2003 through the State of Nature report, which is published every few years, a collaborative effort between over 60 organisations, including government agencies, academics, and wildlife conservation groups. To give some context more than half of the UK bee, butterfly and moth species have declined in the last 50 years. 93% of wild flower meadows have been lost since the 1950s. Native hedgehog numbers have plummeted by at least half in the UK and is now red listed. The Barn Owl has suffered a 75% drop in its population since the 1930s. Common frog, common toad and natterjack toad populations have been reported as being in decline since the 1970s. There are many more examples of the depletion of nature. Cumbria Wildlife Trust, with incredible support from generous benefactors, recently purchased Skiddaw Forest, an iconic location in the Lake District National Park, covering 3000 acres of wild landscape which contains England’s third highest mountain. Parts of this land have protection designations - Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. The internationally known walk, the Cumbrian Way, passes through this newly acquired land. The restoration of the habitat at Skiddaw Forest is strategically important and nationally significant; it will contribute to the Cumbria Biodiversity Action Plan and the Cumbria Local Nature Recovery Strategy.

Skiddaw Forest has been damaged by poor land management techniques. We have a unique opportunity to make changes for nature by bringing back a mosaic of habitats on a truly landscape scale. Despite its name, Skiddaw Forest has hardly any trees and one of our visons is to restore areas of Atlantic rainforest over 620 acres of the site. This is no quick fix and may take up to 100 years to fully achieve. Planting will be with sessile oak, birch, rowan, holly, alder, willow, and hazel in a manner that is sympathetic with the aesthetics of the landscape. This will allow a rich tapestry of life to grow on and around these trees and eventually ferns, mosses, liverworts, and lichens will seem to cover every surface, from the ground to boulders, crags, and even the trunks and branches themselves. This work will be registered with the Woodland Code for monitoring, with work and evaluation undertaken with a dedicated site officer.

Skiddaw Forest supports a number of rare and unusual species, including a boreo-montane invertebrate community (of considerable ecological and biogeographical importance) and an important upland breeding bird community of high ecological value. It is a site of national interest and of importance for its geology as well as its ecology. It is of outstanding interest ecologically, being designated as both a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. Interest is focussed around a suite of upland habitats, with extensive upland heathland, upland blanket bog and montane grass heath being the most extensive. There are a number of rare plant species present, Cloudberry, Bog Rosemary and Dwarf Willow for example. A high-value upland breeding bird community is present, including curlew (a European red list species) golden plover, merlin and, in some years, the highly persecuted (and declining in number) hen harrier. The land is designated for its geological interest for a number of features, including periglacial features and as the type locality for the Skiddaw group of rocks. The area forms the headwaters of two designated river systems (The Caldew and Dash Beck). Restoration projects on this scale are very rare and allow us to follow the principles of the Lawton review - to take a whole landscape approach where wildlife habitats are bigger, better managed and more joined-up. Our successful restoration work at our nearby nature reserve at Eycott Hill Nature Reserve demonstrate that the Trust’s staff have the knowledge and experience to undertake a project of this scale. The overall work to restore Skiddaw Forest will take many years, indeed decades, to complete and will be achieved through a continuous flow of smaller, interrelated projects.