Coasting into seaside job

A Lake District ranger is moving areas to protect a patch he says is unparalleled with fells meeting coast in a landscape he loves.

Taking over the rugged, remote western part of the Lake District, Phil Clague is no stranger to the challenges work as a National Park ranger brings.

He has spent the past 12 years looking after the Coniston area, familiar territory to the outdoor enthusiast whose family home is a stone’s throw from the Lake District National Park Authority depot at Broughton-in-Furness.

Excited by the different opportunities of his new coastal terrain, Phil said there so much that is special – from Drigg dunes to rolling hills, Silecroft beach to the pounding waves of the Irish Sea.

"You can stand on a sunny shoreline, with the Isle of Man behind you, and watch the clouds forming on Black Coombe as the wind comes off the sea, creating the weather which is blown over the rest of the Lake District."

Phil said the work in this part of the National Park - a unique mix of seashore and fells - was very different and that he was looking forward to more wildlife conservation and habitat management, as well as working with local communities and overseeing public rights of way.

His new area covers includes Ravenglass, Muncaster, Gosforth and Bootle.

"The main thing I want to bring is an understanding of the National Park," he said. "The Lake District is a living, working environment and my feelings for the place have been nurtured by spending most of my life here.

"I will be bringing with me direct experience from my previous patch. I don’t know how difficult the area will be to cover, but it’s encouraging that my predecessor Malcolm Guyatt lasted 33 years!"

Phil, who has worked as a recreation ranger for the Forestry Commission and a countryside warden in Dorset, heads for the great outdoors for work and play. A keen climber, he also enjoys kayaking and mountain biking.

"If the weather is kind this autumn, I’m planning to kayak from Ulverston, where I live, up the coast to Walney, across to Millom, past Silecrift and Ravenglass, then round St Bees to Whitehaven," he said.

"It will be a good way of seeing the coast I’ll be working on!"