South Lakeland

Cumbria Wildlife Trust have for a long time imagined the creation of a vast nature reserve within South Lakeland. Carrying out further land acquisitions and habitat creation would allow us to link existing nature reserves with a mosaic of wetland habitats creating one of the largest and most wildlife rich sites in the North West, truly landscape scale conservation.

Project Vision

Witherslack Mosses

Cumbria Wildlife Trust own and manage a number of nature reserves in the Witherslack area, three of these sites, FoulshawMoss, Meathop Moss and Nichols Moss are collectively known as the Witherslack Mosses and cover an area of almost 450ha.These thriving wetland habitats will also store vast amounts of carbon, helping to tackle climate change. Wetlands can accumulate large carbon stores, making them an important sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide and holding up to or, in some cases, even more than 40% soil carbon, which is substantially greater than the 0.5–2% carbon commonly found in agricultural soils along the north side of the Kent estuary and the low-lying land of the Lyth and Winster valleys.

The Aim

Re-wild, Re-wet & demonstration

The acquisition of degraded peat areas adjacent to the mosses driving reversion of this previously cultivated land back into a mosaic of wetland habitats and restoration of surrounding degraded peat areas. This will be achieved through techniques developed by Cumbria WT which have now been adopted for other peatland restoration projects, an area of conservation that is now being recognised as vital, not only for its wildlife value, but also carbon storage and flood alleviation.

As we purchase more land we will reach the critical mass of habitat (lowland wetlands, reed bed, open water) needed for other species to move in to the area such as breeding bearded tit, marsh harrier, bitterns and cranes.