Thank you for your support for Red Squirrels Northern England.

The red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is the only species of squirrel native to England. As a native species, the red squirrel is an integral part of our countryside and our natural heritage. Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE) is a red squirrel conservation partnership working right across northern England. The project is principally based in Cumbria, Northumberland, Merseyside, Lancashire, northwest Durham and the Yorkshire Dales, in and close to areas where red squirrels are still living free in the landscape.

 In August 2016, RSNE published the result of its fifth annual red and grey squirrel survey.  The annual monitoring survey helps RSNE to understand the natural fluctuations in both red and grey squirrel populations and it is really important that the study continues into the future to help assess the impact of conservation measures for red squirrels.  Surveys are carried out using trail cameras, by walking through woodlands and recording squirrels seen, or by observing squirrel visits to garden feeders.  Your donations are a vital contribution to funding this work.

This year, red squirrels were once again present in more of the 293 sites visited than greys, with reds reported in 44% of sites (the same as last year) and a decline in the presence of greys from 47% of sites last year to only 37% this year.  This follows two successive years of grey squirrel range expansion and provides welcome news for the thousands of people involved in red squirrel conservation across the north of England.  Factors likely to have influenced the result include the wet weather of autumn 2015 and a lack of the natural foods favoured by grey squirrels such as beech nuts and acorns.  Credit must also be given to the huge conversation effort by RSNE staff, private estates and hundreds of community volunteers across the north of England, working together to protect red squirrels.  So, overall, this year was a great result, giving encouragement to all those involved in red squirrel conservation across northern England.

Community engagement and support for the work of RSNE remains extremely strong, with over 400 volunteers across the county contributing their conservation data.  Over 60 supporters attended a briefing event held in Cumbria in November 2016.  In March 2017, five Cumbrian community members joined 100 others in Belfast at the first Knowledge Fair organised through a new national project, ‘Red Squirrels United’.  The event gathered together international experts, community volunteers, conservation practitioners and academics to discuss the latest knowledge and expertise on red squirrel conservation, enabling them to share learning though talks, workshops and a field outing to a red squirrel conservations site managed by Ulster Wildlife.

Looking forward ….

Maintenance of habitat space for red squirrels will continue to be a focus for RSNE, with two full-time rangers and seasonal contractors protecting red squirrels in Cumbria. Work on the 2017 squirrel survey is well underway, with monitoring continuing until the end of May. Anyone sighting squirrels in Cumbria during the spring season is encouraged to report them on line at http://rsne.org.uk/sightings

RSNE will also be organising another community briefing event in November 2017. Details will be posted in due course on their web-site.

None of this would be possible without your fundraising efforts, helping to protect this wonderful species.

Thank you again for your amazing support!

The John Muir Award encourages people of all backgrounds to connect with, enjoy and care for wild places. It encourages awareness and responsibility for the natural environment, in a spirit of fun, adventure and exploration.

 Although this is an individual award, Cumbria Outdoors supports participants to achieve these principles as a group, visiting schools in Cumbria and helping participants to choose a wild place or places either within the school grounds or local environment.  This allows them to compare and contrast their local environment to the setting where they take the course, but whether or not the pupil goes on the residential element of the course, caring for their local environment is an integral part of the John Muir Award.

“Many pupils spend more time playing in their school grounds than in any other outdoor environment. Using your grounds as a context for the John Muir Award is such a powerful way of helping them to connect with and care for nature on their doorstep on a daily basis and through the seasons.”

Alastair Seaman, Grounds for Learning Programme Manager

During the autumn term of 2016, Cumbria Outdoors worked with 2 schools, where a total of 60 pupils learnt about bio-diversity, eco-systems and the conservation of species.  Working to the theme of the John Muir Award, the pupils were encouraged to care for their local environment and were each given a diary to record, reflect and share their experiences.

31 of the pupils went on to work with Cumbria Outdoors and the National Trust, planting 93 willows to repair flood damage on Derwent Island.  This tied in to their schools’ chosen topic of “why are we called the energy coast?” and throughout their residential visit, pupils explored the impact of climate change on their local environment and what could be done to help prevent or slow down the change.

Two schools are already booked onto the course for the spring term 2017, when another 75 pupils will continue the willow planting work with the National Trust on Derwent Island and will clear fencing from an area previously fenced off where new saplings had been planted.

Thanks to your generous donations, Cumbria Outdoors is able to offer the residential course at a subsidised rate, helping young people get involved who would not ordinarily have the opportunity to do so.

Thank you again for your fantastic support!

Thank you for your amazing support for the Warton Crag project.

Warton Crag is a hugely important site both locally and nationally in supporting populations of several rare butterfly species. The mosaic of habitats favoured by these species is under constant threat of encroachment by scrub and dense bracken stands, and requires continual management work to safeguard the success of these species.

During summer 2016, site management work was restricted to bracken bruising to manage dense stands of bracken and to clear rides to open up areas for the key butterfly species.

Weekly butterfly transects were undertaken by Warton Crag’s two volunteer butterfly recorders, with additional counts carried out by staff and volunteers.  Sadly, 2016 was another poor summer for many butterfly species.  Of the key species, High Brown numbers were very low, with Pearl-bordered and Small Pearl-bordered similar to 2014.  In the latter case, longer term results shown a slight upward trend over the last five years.

Research projects undertaken by Lancaster University have raised particular concerns about the isolation of small populations across the wider site, and a joint strategy meeting was held with the RSPB, Butterfly Conservation, local AONB and Lancaster University.  Work to finalise details of a new project to create a network of new rides and increase connectivity across both Warton Crag Reserve and the Crag as a whole commenced in the summer of 2016.  With part of the funding in place by the start of 2017, work began in February on the first of the new rides.  Staff undertook most of the felling work with volunteers making a very valuable contribution in clearing and burning the large amounts of brash.

A new two-year Woodland Fritillary project will build on previous work as well as take on board findings from recent research.

Butterfly monitoring will start again in the spring of 2017 and during early summer it is hoped to start extracting timber from some of this winter’s work.  A public event and walk is planned for the summer months.

Looking to the future, thoughts are turning towards ways of increasing the sustainability of the site management work, and to explore opportunities for maximising the potential of woodland products derived from on-going site maintenance and management.

Your donations through Visitor Giving are vital to the viability of our new and planned projects, as well as for the on-going management of the Warton Crag Nature Reserve.

Thank you again for your fantastic support!

Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s ‘Meadow Life’ project was successfully completed in October 2016, having run since April 2013. The project worked with farmers, small holders, community groups, schools, volunteers and members of the public to try and restore, promote and raise awareness of meadows and their management. Since 2013, 110 hectares of hay meadows have been restored using techniques such as plug planting, green hay spreading and reinstating traditional management techniques. A small army of volunteers has been recruited and trained, surveying 100 different meadows and 70 verges throughout the county.

The project held over 42 public events over the past three and a half years, including practical restoration days, scything courses, botanical ID courses, felting workshops, walks and talks.  These have engaged with a wide variety of different people, with over 420 attendees gaining a better understanding of our wonderful and unique hay meadows.  Educational workshops were delivered to schools around Cumbria, teaching almost 870 school children about the importance of and threats to hay meadow habitats.  Some of these schools have then gone on to grow their own plug plants and then plant these in local meadows.

Early in 2016, thoughts turned towards harnessing the expertise and commitment of people involved in the Meadow Life project to ensure that the project left a lasting legacy.  In April 2016 Cumbria Meadows Network (CMN) was set up to enable meadow owners and managers to share knowledge and expertise, and to support each other with information and discussion of management techniques.  Work has also commenced on setting up a new project that will continue the momentum of Meadow Life by delivering grassland restoration and creation during 2018 and 2019.  The project will work across Cumbria, but most work will be focussed in the Lake District National Park, Morecambe Bay and Ravenstonedale areas.

Despite being in between the closure of one formal project and the launch of its successor, work is continuing in 2017 to protect and enhance our hay meadows in Cumbria.  Restoration work will mainly take place from July to September, preceded by site visits, soil sampling and discussions with land owners and land managers about the planned work.  Plug plants will be ordered and supplies of local provenance green hay and seed will be sourced, and management plans will be prepared to ensure that sites are managed correctly after the completion of restoration work.  The volunteering programme will provide survey and plant identification training, with opportunities for volunteers to put their new skills into practice through monitoring existing grasslands.  Scything workshops and community planting days are also planned.

Work has also continued through 2016 and will continue in 2017 on the Upland Wetland Restoration Project, restoring and protecting our peatlands.  Work involves two elements:

• Re-profiling the eroding face to a more stable angle

• Re-vegetation of bare peat surfaces.

The sides of hags or gullies are re-profiled where they are steep or undercut with overhanging vegetation.  Diggers are used to roll back or undermine the vegetation on the top edge, far enough to enable the underlying peat to be scraped down to create a 33 degree sloping bank.  This is then pressed down to compact it and to increase stability.  Wherever possible, as much of the re-profiled face is then covered with vegetation turves gathered from re-profiled areas or nearby. These are carefully placed on the bare peat with the vegetation uppermost and pressed down with the digger bucket.

None of this vital would be possible without your fundraising efforts.

Thank you again for your amazing support!