Lake District conservation project creates more wetland habitats

A Lake District conservation project is aiming to create more wetland habitats at Blea Tarn.

The National Trust Riverlands Project aims to slow the flow of water entering the Tarn which will in turn create more wetland habitats.

The National Trust say that good functioning wetland habitats are rare and that they can store a significant amount of carbon and are important for wildlife.

The project will not change how much water is in the Tarn, although, visitors may spot more wildlife in the wetland area.

Elysia Basford, a National Trust apprentice, said: “Most of what we're carrying is extremely heavy and because it is still wet down there - although not as well as it should be - it's very difficult to get machinery in. And we would probably tear up the ground quite a lot."

A helicopter was used to bring in bags of local stone and bundles of timber from the nearby Blea Tarn Wood.

Laura Ruxton, South Lakes General Manager, for the National Trust, said: “The peatland habitat is one of the most important ways of storing carbon.

"So making sure that we're not only not allowing them to degrade where more carbon is released into the atmosphere, but also holding carbon there.

"We're in the Windermere catchment - really important conversations about water quality: storing water, slowing the flow, flooding, but also improving water quality."

The site at Blea Tarn has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Joe Bagnall, Riverlands Ranger, for the National Trust, said: “We're basically going to use these to create blockages in these watercourses down here.

"It's a really good example of a canalised river because it's been straightened and dug down to improve it for agriculture. It shoots water through the system really, really quickly and it has obviously the effect of drying out the land around it.

"So we're forcing water out of the channel, so it spreads out over the surrounding landscape. And we'll be creating sort of pool areas - really good habitat for invertebrates and amphibians behind them.

"They'll also help trap sediment that's being washed off the fell and the pine needles, they're really good for that because they trap the fine sediment.

“We're getting more intense, longer drought periods and then those really frequent heavy rainfall periods as well.

"So this will hopefully just add a bit of resilience into the site. So we'll be able to weather those really dry periods a lot better; slow the flow moving through the system when we get those heavy rainfall periods as well."

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