14th November 2023: Managing Land for Nature, Climate and People Land Manager's Diary: Read it here> BOOK onto one our upcoming workparties> When locals moan about the rain we get in the Lake District, you sometimes hear visitors say “Well you wouldn’t have the lakes without the rain would you”… Following that line of thought, with the awful weather this week, there are a whole new raft of lakes. Everywhere is sodden, many fields are lakes and moving around has been quite tricky. On Tuesday we managed to get out onto the Helm, with people braving flooded roads from all around. Frequent weather events like Storm Debi mean that we must manage our land sympathetically and build in resilience for the future. We continually consider all our pieces of land and think about what more they can deliver for nature, climate and people and this is an ongoing process. Pictured: A tranquil scene at the Helm following the week's stormy weather That is precisely why we were back on the Helm, adding more trees for biodiversity and nature, and helping slow the flow of water. Tasks for the day were to continue rabbit wiring our new enclosures ready for planting with fruit and berry trees in the new year. The trees have arrived this week and Andy has kindly offered to heel them in his veg patch until we need them! We had a great team of people join us to help, and welcomed some new recruits. They really cracked on and we got another three enclosures ready, leaving us four to do in January. Pictured: Volunteers completed new enclosures, adding rabbit fencing to protect planting We also planted the ten junipers that we had saved from our juniper planting session earlier in the year so that we could trial them in the enclosures. Pictured: Volunteers planting juniper within our newly constructed enclosures A rather more unusual and odd task was to try and resolve the issue of a metal pole sticking out of the tarn. It appeared some weeks ago, we assume as part of the old water supply system for the farms below. How and why it was suddenly sticking up in the air we have no idea. Despite attempts to bend it, twist it and separate it from whatever it is connected to deep in the mud, it wasn’t for shifting. So we came up with another cunning plan and for now it is out of sight… We were met by contractor Dan on site, with a swelled workforce as his dad was over from France! They were putting in some extra fence posts on the roadside fence where the existing ones had gone rotten, to make sure that the cows and fell ponies don’t escape. Dan was also working up plans for the rest of that fence which is starting to collapse with all the rain we keep having. If you fancy helping us with the rest of the enclosure work, our dates for next year are now up on the website> If you just can’t wait that long, then next week is a new task : putting in wetland plug plants at Dam Mire wood at Threlkeld. All welcome, and you can book here> Manage Cookie Preferences