By Katharine Milnes, east of Eden Nature Recovery Project Senior Advisor
A landscape of contrast agents
Dare to the east of the M6, away from Cumbria's famous Lake District Mountains, and you will discover Cumbria's own Eden. Here the broad, fertile valley of the River Eden extends to the east to meet the western slopes of the north Pennines and to climb into the open moorlands, which are often called “England's last wilderness”.
For 25 years I have been lucky enough to work in this unique landscape to advise wildlife management. The Fells support a rich mosaic of highland lifestyle-rich ceiling moor and Heide on the Moorlandplateau, with areas with a species-rich grassland on the edges of the falls.
The fields of Moorland and adjacent fields offer crucial jokes for breeding birds such as Curlew and Black Grouse, which have suffered serious declines elsewhere in England, and the population of rare mountain plants occur in the grassland and flushes at great altitude. Sources and Becks feed three large rivers: the Eden, the Tyne and the teas.
Like a large part of the UK, this area has suffered a significant loss of habitat and fragmentation.
Centuries of freedom of tree have only left small pockets from once tied forests, which gives the landscape part of the lowest tree coverage in England. In the fertile lowland of Eden Valley, semi -natural habitats appear in scattered spots, and the nutrient enrichment influences the water quality within the river.
The birth of the eastern Eden project
In my experience in the pennines, I know that the greatest successes are created by nature conservation through effective cooperation between land managers and environmental organizations. When DEFRA and Natural England were looking for twelve locations for multi-partner-nature recovery projects throughout England, this landscape offered an ideal opportunity to expand and combine existing successful initiatives.
The Projekt -Recovery project, which was launched in the east of Eden Nature Recovery Project in 2023, is headed by a steering group, including partners of both the nature reserve and the agricultural sector. Together we want to create a network of natural habitats in which wild animals live in addition to the people who live and work here and at the same time help communities from all areas to connect to nature.
Early achievements
In this landscape, it is essential that agriculture and wild animals thrive together to reach our vision. If the mechanisms of agricultural support mechanisms change, access to good advice is of crucial importance.
We worked with the Farmer Network and a local farmer cluster to understand the current management practices and obstacles to improve the wildlife. The Farmer Network runs east of Eden Training Events about the diversification of grassland, tree planting, rear racks and environmental programs, supported by financing the North Pennines Farming in Protected Landscapes Scheme.
We have set up a connection group for consultants from various organizations to ensure that you can share knowledge and shield managers on the best sources of advice. Connections formed by this group have created exciting new possibilities, e.g. B. the development of connections between a community hub in Appleby-in-Westmorland and a local farm that wants to visit people with disabilities.
In the Geltsdale Reserve of RSPB in the north of the project area, we supported the development of a tree nursery in which employees work together with volunteers to collect seeds from trees in the reserve and to expand them for the provision of local, local inventory for future plants. We have also financed GPS colleagues for cattle and made it possible to enable “virtual fences” in an area that is restored to wooden willow. Therefore, grazing can be controlled to help trees establish themselves under a mosaic of Heath and grassland.
With Eden Rivers Trust and Citizenship Scientists, we have improved our knowledge of currents and rivers in the Eden catchment area. Care use methods developed by the Freshwater Biological Association and contribute to a national database and at the same time identify areas in which the habitat for wild animals can be improved.
I'm looking forward to
This year we will continue our projects “Plants for pollinators” with Cumbria Wildlife Trust and work with local communities and farmers to identify areas in which more wild flowers could contribute to developing networked networks of Blum -rich grassland. The season has started with a “bee walk” to help people identify and absorb bees and improve our knowledge of their numbers and their distribution.
Project partners from the North Pennines National Landscape, Woodland Trust and RSPB have tested how innovative technologies such as UV and satellite images can find suitable tree plants without affecting important areas for breeding wadders. The mapping results are evaluated in the field and discuss discussions with landowners to develop financing proposals.
In cooperation with researchers at Cambridge University, we started the “Ost of Eden Perspective Survey” to understand what different people think about problems with wild animals and land management. In June we carried out workshops to discuss the results that will help to design our future work.
We will also bring together agricultural advisors to determine how we can work most effectively to enter more land in programs that are ambitious for nature and at the same time support viable agricultural companies. If farm skins want to work together, we will examine the potential for the development of landscape recovery systems at the highest level of the agricultural environment offer.
Through this collaborative approach, the East of Eden Nature Recovery project aims to create a landscape in which nature and people thrive together for the coming generations.
