Lake district partnership celebrates
The wild open fells, rugged mountain peaks, and sheltered valleys of the Lake District were in the spotlight today, as representatives of the Cumbrian farming community, government, and key rural organisations gathered to celebrate ten years of the Lake District Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) scheme.
Environment Minister Elliot Morley joined invited guests including farmer and former NFU County Chairman Will Cockbain, Regional Director of the National Trust Tiffany Hunt, and Paul Tiplady, National Park Officer with the Lake District National Park Authority, to mark the scheme's achievements in Cumbria over the past decade.
Successes include the completion of nearly 200km of dry stone walls, the renovation of 250km of hedgerows, and the restoration of nearly 1,000 traditional buildings. As well as preserving and enhancing the characteristic Lakes landscape, the improvements have employed of the skills of local builders, dry stone wallers, hedgelayers, and other traditional craftsmen.
The Defra scheme supports areas of national environmental significance by encouraging farmers to adopt environmentally friendly farming practices. At 245,390 hectares (947 sq miles) the Lake District is the largest of the twenty two ESAs in England, and brings over #10m into Cumbria annually though payments to farmers.
It is also noted for its diverse plant and animal life, including around 25 species listed on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.
Birds, including the skylark and song thrush, mammals including the water vole, brown hare, otter, dormouse, pipistrelle bat, and red squirrel, amphibians including the natterjack toad and great crested newt, and butterflies including the high brown fritillary, are benefiting from the environmentally sensitive management the Lakes ESA farmers have embraced.
Speaking from the Rheged Conference Centre at Penrith, Environment Minister Elliot Morley commented:
"The achievements we celebrate today are a testament to a vital partnership. Nature alone does not create a landscape this glorious; sound farm management is also at its heart.
"I congratulate the individuals and organisations whose skills and energy have maintained and improved this landscape over the first decade of the Environmentally Sensitive Areas scheme. We can all look forward to the benefits that another ten years of investment in one of the country's most prized landscapes will bring."
Much of the Lake District ESA scheme falls with the National Park boundary. The Lake District National Park Authority has supported it throughout its first ten years. National Park Officer Paul Tiplady
said:
"We are very lucky to live and work in such a unique landscape as the Lake District National Park. Part of this uniqueness is because the landscape is, and has long been, managed. The ESA Scheme has proven a very effective way of rewarding land managers for delivering what the public want from their countryside."
The group went on to visit Sam and Candida Hodgson, tenants at the National Trust's Glencoyne Farm on the banks of Ullswater, which at 1,426 hectares is one of the largest farms in the area.
The farm has been managed under the Lake District ESA scheme almost since its inception, during which time grouse have returned to the heather fell, 2km of drystone walling have been restored, and a traditional field barn has been renovated - now with a resident barn owl endorsing it. Bracken control has improved the availability of grassland pasture and so reduced pressure on the heather, increasing the diversity of plant species, with blue gentian and bog asphodel becoming more prominent. Field mice are abundant, providing food for barn owls and other birds of prey.
Tiffany Hunt, National Trust Regional Director for the North West,said:
"ESA has proved to be a pioneering form of green farming. It has enabled our farm tenants to build environment into the heart of the farm business. We welcome plans that will enable us to build on the sound platform that ESA has provided."
