The Lake District Foundation is supporting five organisations with funding to plant new hedges and trees.
We have allocated £10k through our Real Hedge Fund which helps create and restore hedgerows and trees across the county.
More than 1000 meters of hedgerow has already been planted in two previous rounds of funding.
Sarah Swindley, Chief Executive Lake District Foundation, said: “We have been raising funds for several years specifically designed to help restore Cumbria’s under-threat hedgerows.
“Nineteen hedge projects have received funding over the last two years and the latest round of support sees five fantastic initiatives receive backing.”
Among them is Long Marton Primary School – outside Appleby – which receives £1300 towards a new hedge which will encourage wildlife.
Headteacher Rachel Smith said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this grant and will use it to plant a native hedgerow along the perimeter of our school grounds.
“We will also sow a wildlife meadow in front of the hedge with seed donated by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust. Wildlife and environmental conservation is very important to us and we are very committed to Outdoor Learning.”
Other projects supported include:
- Ulverston Ford Park Community Group Ford Park will receive £2500 to add hedgerows to improve biodiversity.
- Friends of Dubwath Silver Meadows will receive £1800 to extend an existing hedgerow near a wetland nature reserve.
- New hedge schemes at Greystoke and Mire Head, Grayrigg.
The Real Hedge Fund aims to highlight the importance of hedgerows and trees in the environment and their role within the cultural and natural heritage of the Lake District.
Hedgerows are unsung biodiversity heroes, as well as connecting habitats, protecting against pollution and helping fight climate change, they provide a home for 80% of our woodland birds, hedgehogs, most species of bat, the great crested newt, dormice and butterflies.
The Lake District Foundation launched the Real Hedge Fund in June 2020 in partnership with Ullswater Catchment Management CIC, The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Woodland Trust and Eden Rivers Trust.