From the Chief Executive Stephen Trotter


The curlews are back on their breeding grounds for the summer and calling. My spirit liſts every time I hear them – and in the last few weeks I’ve heard these ‘sentinels of spring’ in the North-East of the county, on the Pennines, near our nature reserve at Smardale and even in fields around Plumgarths in Kendal. They’re a red-listed species whose numbers are plummeting everywhere although Cumbria still holds important numbers, especially in the North Pennines. This is a bird which means so much to me and to so many people. It’s painfully distressing to think of the possibility that if we lose this much-loved bird, to misquote a phrase, our springs in Cumbria might be silent in future. What can be done to prevent this disaster?


The curlew’s future is inseparably linked to the future of our upland landscapes. Their decline is difficult to pin to a single issue and it’s not fully understood. But the suspicion is that a whole host of complex, interrelated factors may be to blame across large areas of the landscape.


Perhaps… changes in land management, loss of meadows and changes to rough pasture, damage to peatlands, chemicals, soil health, levels of predation, afforestation and the presence of wind farms are all implicated. But this is not a blame game – we no longer have the time to get drawn into unproductive debate.


For me this is about finding solutions to two big problems. The first is how do we prevent the loss of wildlife (like the declining curlew), which will go if we don’t act? The reality is that it’s a lot easier to prevent the loss of key species than to bring them back later, even though we’re geting beter at it, as we discuss in this issue.


The second is how do we start to bring back some of the missing species into our landscapes where they can enrich our lives and do important tasks?


Trust Officers


President Lord Inglewood


Vice Presidents Kathleen Atkinson Pippa Bonner Susan Garnet


Geoffrey Halliday David Hill Martin Holdgate Susan Johnson Anne Powell Margaret Sutcliffe Judith Wallen


Board of Trustees


Chair John Farmer


Treasurer Julie Barret


Company Secretary John Handley


2 Cumbrian Wildlife | May 2019


Chair of Conservation Commitee Peter Woodhead


Chair of Development Commitee Graham Hooley


Individual Members Philip Byle Jane Carson Emily Coates Graham Hooley Cressida Inglewood Ann Lackie David Sharrod


in the right places for the environment and society. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could design payments to unleash the enthusiasm and resourcefulness of farmers to provide healthy soils, clean water and restore wildlife in abundance everywhere? That would also need us to find new ways to work together across the wider landscape.


 Stephen Troter talks with HRH The Prince of Wales about the future of hill farming and the Coronation Meadows at Eycot Hill Nature Reserve


The solutions are not simple or straightforward – but all will require farmers, landowners, local people, volunteers, organisations, the general public and conservationists to work together in new ways, not just for the curlew but to address problems for other species, habitats and other environmental issues too. We can’t put nature into recovery unless we harness the enthusiasm and skills of farmers, land managers and landowners across Cumbria.


That’s why we’re working with the Lake District National Park Partnership and Government to change the system of farm subsidies which, let’s face it, hasn’t really worked for farmers or wildlife. I want to see a transformational change to produce beter outcomes for both farmers and wildlife – it’s not a question of ‘either farming or wildlife’ – both are essential and share a common interest.


I recognise the essential underlying need for farmers to make a good living and that public subsidy is currently critical for farm incomes. Public payments should in future provide the incentives and rewards for farmers and land managers to do the right things


We’re already demonstrating how this can be done with great success through our grassland and peatland recovery work. We’ve now worked successfully with farmers and land owners on more than 4,000 hectares of peatlands, for example.


But we need to do more.


All of these programmes aim to transform our countryside for the beter. All of them involve puting some of the missing species and habitats back in a responsible way. Most oſten its species like Sphagnum moss or a number of once common plants – it’s not always about the big animals.


That’s why it’s so exciting that we can announce the start of the Get Cumbria Buzzing project (see page 28), which aims to reverse the fortunes of pollinators – and the flowers they need. At £1.8m this is one of our largest and most innovative projects with the Local Nature Partnership, Highways England and the National Lotery Heritage Fund. It brings together local people, experts, organisations in a partnership to take positive action for wild flowers and pollinators at a landscape scale. This is wonderful news and thanks to everyone who has helped put this together. We can’t wait to get cracking.


So it’s not a question of people or wildlife – it’s a mater of people and wildlife. We need both to thrive – and we need to work together to create a Wilder and even beter Cumbria.


Stephen, Chief Executive


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