Our partnership with Ullswater Catchment Management CIC - which has restored 2,083 acres of key river habitats in the Lake District - has won a prestigious UK River Prize!

Find out more: brnw.ch/21wJmuM

Environment Agency | Natural England

Photo: Clive Whitbourn

Balancing farming and nature. The country needs to get much better at, but when we do it right, amazing things can happen! Oh, and we won the uk river prize for our partnership work with National Trust Env Agency NW Natural England NW

youtu.be/JL0in7UqdOI?si…

Back visiting a re-wiggling project from the summer with Env Agency NW
Planting up the riparian strip with trees to provide shelter and shade. Plenty of Salmon redds visible so it’s heartening to have their approval
Olly Southgate

Very grateful and humbled to accept this award at the Cumbria farmer awards amongst so many amazing farmers. Such an awesome group of switched on folk & a pleasure to work with.
Showing how to balance nature and food production,it’s not easy, but we’re showing it’s possible

This pond’s only 1 year old and bouncing with life, spotted Curlews,Snipe, Swallow, Dragonflies,Otters & so much more
When the stream ran dry in the drought this was vital for wildlife and farm livestock. Balancing farming and nature
Env Agency NW Olly Southgate
#drought23 #pond

Using big stones to make the in stream habitat better.
We did this project in June and it’s settling in well. Hopefully after a few big floods have washed through it’ll make a nice deep holding pool for Trout & Salmon
Partnership project with Env Agency NW

So rewarding to see the swallows feeding on a pond that we made only 2 months ago. It already has water boatmen,damsel flies and so much more . Such an easy win in a wet corner of a field
Part of a larger project of river restoration with Env Agency NW Olly Southgate Natural England Cumbria

Checked on a wetland that we made last year. The only water that’s left in this field, the stream has long since dried up
A refuge for wildlife and a vital drinking source for stock

#wetland #pond #drought

This is a very interesting listen. A sensible, honest discussion on integrating nature into a farm and talking about how the economics of farming have driven change on Mark & Jenny’s farm. Well done Pete Leeson, I enjoyed listening to this

open.spotify.com/episode/5PHhY8…

More top of the catchment natural flood management work.
Reducing the depth of some historic draining by raising the bed level to allow heavy rain to spill out and use the paleo-channels (original, natural flow routes)
Without doubt our busiest year for delivery yet!

Nice mix of cattle grazing, natural flood management and habitat creation.
Blocked up the man made drains which didn’t work,to allow the original channels to work again. There’s some lovely wet flushes but the majority of the ground is draining better now.
Env Agency NW

Given the way that prolonged droughts seem to be more frequent, we’re going to focus on some of the smaller tributaries. If we can put in some simple features like riffles to raise the water level, it’s going to be a game changer for young Salmon & Trout
#drought #salmon #trout

Ullswater Catchment Management CIC

Hi everyone, we’ve just updated our website if you fancy checking it out.
Please let us know what you think, thank you ucmcic.com

Working at the very top of the catchment today. Blocking up drained peat to help soak up water & release slower downstream to the river Eden eventually
Many thanks to Wild Lakeland for advice, who then sloped off to avoid the horseflies! Yet another project with Env Agency NW !

More river restoration work, sorry!
Removing the old rock armor lining the channel and putting it back in the beck to allow the channel to move and create much better in stream habitat for fish.
This will also scour the river bed and then allow deposition of gravels

Before & after river restoration project, 2 years apart. Was lucky enough to visit again recently and it’s absolutely bouncing with nature. I’ve never seen so many damsel and dragonflies before in my life. A superb example of nature friendly farming

Laying a live willow in the stream. It’s still attached to its stump so it’s fixed & will grow, but it’s going to provide habitat for fish & insects and help the river to move around and connect to the channel on the far bank, spreading out the flood water to slow it downstream

Had the great pleasure of meeting farming officers from Stavanger municipality in Norway, to compare farming habitats between our 2 countries. We have similar constraints and problems, but farming appears better supported there. Thanks to LakesFarming and James Robinson

When this culvert under the A66 was built in 1960’s, fish passage wasn’t considered. As such it blocked access to several miles upstream for many species including limiting access to Salmon & Trout to reach spawning grounds. By adding complexity it’s even passable now in drought

Newly built riffle in the beck to reinstate natural habitat below, and allow the beck to reconnect to its floodplain again during heavy rain. Another important habitat built for #Salmon & #Trout Thanks to our local team Env Agency NW for your help as ever!