'Wildlife corridor’ plans in North Lakes as volunteers plant 6,000 trees
Video report by Natasha Potts
Another Way, the environmental charity set up by Penrith teenager Amy Bray, is aiming to plant 6,000 trees and hedgerows in a week as part of National Tree Week.
The areas being used are four farmland sites, three in the Matterdale valley and another in Patterdale.
A mix of species including oak, rowan, blackthorn, hawthorn, hazel, dog rose, bird cherry and crab apple are being safely planted by 70 local volunteers with social distancing in place.
The saplings are being protected by biodegradable and recycled tree guards.
The charity says that as well as the positive effects for environmental and wildlife, there are flood management benefits too.
Danny Teasdale from Ullswater Catchment Management CIC said, “There's lots of bits of habitat throughout our area. I want to start joining them all up through hedgerow corridors and the hedgerows. They work really well for farming, great for weather like this once they're established for sheep to shelter behind, but brilliant connectivity for the wildlife as well“.
This is part of a bigger national project organised by the tree council, which aims to plant more than 80,000 trees by March 2021 thanks to a £1 million fund announced by Network Rail last year.
James Rebanks, a local farmer well-know for his books on Cumbrian farm life, owns part of the land where the planting is taking place. He said: "I'm one of many farmers in the valley and the next that's all doing their best and trying to take seriously their responsibilities to the environment.
"What we're trying to do is to put back in a lot of these traditional hedgerows and lots of new ones.
"There's a bunch of big ponds and fantastic wetland that we've created behind you and it's really important that we do this because there's a lot of wildlife and the nature on British farmland that has disappeared in the last thirty or forty years.
"That's a sad thing to realise, but it also gives you a bit of hope because with these amazing people and the amazing help of lots of charities and other organisations we can put it right we can make it better."