News and Updates

The Nature Recovery Workbook is a new resource for town and parish councils in Cumbria that will help them take action for nature and support delivery of Cumbria’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy

Cumbria has officially launched its Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), becoming the thirteenth LNRS to be published in England.
The strategy has been led by Westmorland and Furness Council, working in close partnership with Cumberland Council, the Lake District National Park Authority, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, and Natural England.
Developed collaboratively, the Cumbria LNRS sets out clear priorities for restoring biodiversity across the county. It brings together existing environmental data, established local and national strategies, and, crucially, incorporates local knowledge and expertise to ensure that actions for nature recovery deliver the greatest possible positive impact for Cumbria’s distinctive landscapes and wildlife.

Recent studies of upland vegetation change have shown good results for breeding birds. Over the last 10 years the Woodland Trust have facilitated two long term studies of Tebay Gill, Tebay and Moasdale, Duddon to look at the impacts of habitat change on birds. Both sites in the study were fenced, sheep-free exclosures, where trees and scrub had been planted and maintained to encourage vegetation change under a Higher Level Stewardship agreement.

Cumbria Local Nature Partnership were pleased to speak at Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s members conference on the 13th September on the importance of individual actions for nature recovery. 

We presented alongside colleagues from Westmorland and Furness Council who gave an update on the Local Nature Recovery Strategy before we spoke about the ways that we can all do our part to help ‘join the dots’ for nature and create more, bigger, better, and joined up spaces for wildlife to move across our urban areas and wider landscape.

The first biosecurity event developed in partnership between the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, and Cumbria Local Nature Partnership took place on 3 September at Gosling Sike in Carlisle.
Attended by 30 people from a range of organisations the event was an opportunity for knowledge sharing, learning, and networking, with lots of great presentations and lively conversation. The focus was on the important of topic biosecurity and the risks to the Cumbrian environment from pests, diseases, and invasive non-native species (INNS), particularly related to plants and trees.

Conservationists are surveying over 1000 stunning wildlife sites across the county. County Wildlife Sites, also known as Local Wildlife Sites, play a vital role in helping nature to thrive across the Cumbrian landscape. They provide corridors and stepping stones for wildlife to move through the county. They link the better-known areas for wildlife, such as nature reserves and protected sites, adding to the mosaic of habitats for nature. They include everything from woodlands, hay meadows and churchyards to roadside verges, moorlands, lakes and riverbanks. They’re owned and managed by a range of landowners, including private individuals, charities, utility companies, and public bodies.

Event: Plants, people, and pests: the importance of biosecurity to our environment (3 September)

The Cumbrian River Restoration Partnership Programme – led by the Environment Agency and Natural England – has been named a finalist in the prestigious Thiess International Riverprize Awards.

Raise: Cumbria Community Forest has been named Forest of the Year by England’s Community Forests, in recognition of its inclusive, creative and community-led approach to woodland creation.

On the 24th April we held our first Nature for Health event at Carlisle Civic Centre in Partnership with the Cumbria People and Nature Network and Natural England.

Leaders from across nature and environmental charities and NGOs, local authorities, and public bodies met on 15 January to take forward plans for a nature-recovery network for Cumbria.

In 2023 Cumbria Local Nature Partnership brought together partners including Cumberland Council, Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Lake District National Park, Natural England, Yorkshire Dales National Park, and Westmorland & Furness Council to develop a project focussed on Cumbria’s special County Wildlife Sites

Seven circles of seven silver birch trees, set on seven lines radiating from the centre of the Lake District National Park… This is Resonance Cumbria, a living artwork that will help nurture conversations around land use, care, and action.

Cumbria Local Nature Partnership recently joined partner organisations for a nature roundtable with Josh MacAlister MP and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Baroness Sue Hayman at Rosehill Theatre near Whitehaven.