Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete and share our recent survey which looked to seek people's thoughts on all things nature in Cumbria.

People were invited to take part, whether they live, work or visit the area, love watching wildlife, enjoy an epic day exploring the fells and lakes, or are more at home by the coast.

We're developing a Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) for Cumbria with supporting authorities Cumberland Council, Lake District National Park, Yorkshire Dales National Park and Natural England.

We've received over 760 responses and will now spend time analysing your feedback to see what's important to you, and use your priorities and ideas to help shape and inform our plans.

As a council, we are committed to protecting and enhancing biodiversity and nature, and are committed to working collaboratively with town and parish councils, communities and other partner organisations in tackling the biodiversity crisis in a just and fair manner.

Did you know?

25% of the UK’s mammal species are now under threat of extinction, 97% of our wildflower meadows have been lost since 1930 and 41% of species have decreased in abundance since 1970.

Working together in Kendal

We've been working closely with the Fellside Forum in Kendal to make biodiversity improvements at the top of Greenside on the lane to the golf course.

After speaking to the group, the Council agreed to only mow the verge immediately next to the tarmac so that a greater range of plant species can thrive and encourage more insects and pollinators.

To help this along, the Fellside Forum applied to the Council who awarded the project a small grant to buy some plants and seeds.

A group of neighbours, with help from Kendal Conservation Volunteers at Dog Kennel Wood and Fairoak Trust residents, then planted and seeded the verge.

We look forward to seeing what different types of insects the plants and wildflowers attract!

In April, we held an event with the community at Park View Playing Fields in Barrow to celebrate the creation of a new community forest.

Working with Raise: Cumbria Community Forest, The Brathay Trust and The Knotted Project, over 4,000 trees and shrubs have been planted, showing a significant commitment to biodiversity and climate action.

The new forest will become a haven for wildlife, improve air quality and help combat climate change. It will also help to bring people closer to nature, creating a space for recreation and education, and fostering stronger community ties.

We are pleased to be working with Cumbria Wildlife Trust to further create flower-rich, pollinator-friendly habitats in community green spaces as part of the Trust’s “Get Cumbria Buzzing, Not Buffering” initiative, funded by Fibrus Broadband.

This collaborative project aims to engage communities across Cumbria, encouraging them to take positive action for pollinators in their local areas.

By 2025, through working with local communities and landowners, the partnership will have helped create or restore 15 valuable sites for pollinators, ensuring that they’re managed correctly and continue to be wildlife havens long into the future.

During the three-year project, the project will also run community planting days, as well as pollinator identification and training sessions. In addition, 1,500 packs of native Cumbrian wildflower seeds will be given out across the county.

The first community planting day has already taken place at Town View Fields in Kendal, where 20 volunteers joined in with planting 1,200 plugs.

Read the full story on Cumbria Wildlife Trust's website.

We were pleased to support the Ambleside and Grasmere ‘Big Switch Off’ event that took place in February by turning off streetlights in the area.

Residents, businesses and visitors were also encouraged to join in by turning off their lights overnight, providing an opportunity to appreciate the impact on stargazing.

This annual collaborative initiative, led by Friends of the Lake District as part of their Dark Skies project, aims to showcase the beauty of the night sky while promoting electricity conservation.

Although the weather was wet, it was still a great opportunity to truly observe nature and appreciate our local surroundings without the impact of light pollution.

We've received a funding grant of £330,718 from Phase 2 of Sport England’s Swimming Pool Support Fund to make Appleby and Penrith Leisure Centres more energy efficient and sustainable.

The funding follows the successful bid to Phase 1 of the Sport England Fund, which saw £235,000 awarded to Barrow Park Leisure Centre to help with rising energy, maintenance and chemical costs.

This new funding will see a number of energy saving improvements made to Appleby and Penrith leisure centres including the installation of solar panels, pipework insulation and triple glazing.

Lesh Lane

This Spring, we carried out tree and shrub planting at Lesh Lane in Barrow. The trees and shrubs were all selected by students from South Cumbria Pupil Referral Unit based at Newbridge House in Newbarns.

Thanks to the help and hard work of students from the Pupil Referral Unit as well as members of the public and representatives from ‘Love Barrow Families’, ‘Furness Multi-Cultural Society’ and Mind, the planting was completed ahead of schedule.

The types of shrubs planted include Guelder Rose, Elderberry, Dogrose, Hawthorn and Spindle. These species are all native to the UK and locally occurring in and around Barrow. They were chosen especially for their pollinator suitability, with some such as Cherry having amazing blossoms, providing important pollen and nectar supplies, and others are great food plants for many caterpillars of our butterflies and moths.

The trees planted include Field Maple, Wild Cherry, Sessile Oak, Crab Apple and Grey Willow. The oak trees are known to support an incredible amount of British wildlife, with the Elderberry, Wild Cherry and Crab Apple providing edible fruits, hopefully providing an opportunity for communities to interact directly with the trees through harvesting the fruit and creating lovely crumbles and syrups!

Blake Street and Holker Street

In March, we held a planting day at Blake Street and Holker Street in Barrow, involving a planting session with students from St James' Primary School and local residents.

From children's old wellies to empty ice cream tubs and finished baked beans cans, those who attended were able to make their own mini planter with local wildflowers and learn about helping pollinators in the garden or on their window sill, and see the streets' newly restored pollinator-friendly planters.

They also got to take a plant home with them!

As part of the Planting for Pollinators Project for Biggar Bank, The Round House café located on the bank has worked with students from George Hastwell School to create some planters for all visitors to enjoy.

Speaking about their day, George Hastwell School said:

"Thank you for the opportunity to give back to the community. We look forward to seeing how these plants grow and how the wildlife thrive."                 

In March, the waste contractor Renewi launched a new 'Baa-ttery' campaign to encourage people to recycle the 3.2 million batteries discarded in Cumbria each year - the equivalent to the weight of over 3650 Herdwick sheep!

Renewi has partnered with Valpak and the campaign is supported by Westmorland & Furness Council, Cumberland Council and Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service.

The campaign sees a new 'Superewe' character to raise public awareness and represent the mascot for this and future campaigns. The mascot has been placed on all new Valpak battery boxes supplied to all 269 primary schools across Cumbria. 

When the boxes are full, they will be collected for free, and a replacement provided. Book tokens will be awarded to the schools which collect the most unwanted batteries before the school summer holidays.

The ‘Baa-ttery’ campaign has since been shortlisted for Let's Recycle's 'Campaign of the Year'.

Did you know?

Batteries, commonly found in various household items including toys, phones, electronic equipment and vapes, should never be disposed of in regular waste or recycling bins.

When damaged during the transportation or treatment process, they have the potential to explode or ignite, which can lead to fires and pose serious risks to personal safety.

There are designated household battery banks at all of our household waste recycling centres (HWRCs). Find your nearest HWRC.

In March, we held a take-back event with a difference.

For one week only, people could bring back unwanted aids for daily living to Penrith Town Hall where they were then collected, cleaned and sanitised for reuse.

A total of 63 items, such as commodes, toilet frames, bed levers and shower chairs, were returned with a total weight of 352kg. Estimated carbon savings as a result of this take-back event are 620kg.

These events not only create an easy way for people to return unwanted equipment and save carbon but importantly help address a shortage of equipment and support people to stay active and independent in their own homes.

No Mow May is over, what's next?

Now the growth season moves into June, things don’t have to get messy or overgrown, but you can still maintain a space for your local wildlife.

By not mowing or reducing the frequency in which you mow, you've been helping to rekindle your wildflowers and in turn thrown your pollinators a much needed lifeline.

You might be concerned that if you let things grow any higher your mower may no longer be able to do its job. If your grassy growth has got away from you, don’t panic. Not all mowers can cope with tall vegetation but most can if you mow in two stages.

Firstly, check your lawn for wildlife and then set the blades as high as possible.

As you mow, progress gradually towards sanctuary areas such as uncut grass strips at boundaries. This leaves an escape route for wildlife.

For more information on how to manage your garden going forward, visit Plantlife's website.

We are once again supporting The Great Big Green Week from 8-16 June.

This year's theme is 'Let's swap together for good' which encourages people to reduce waste and encourage the reuse and recycling of goods.

Great Big Green Week is the UK’s biggest-ever celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature.

Working collaboratively with Cumbria Action for Sustainability, we have provided funding to support grants of up to £300 for not-for-profit groups to help them hold events in their local area across Westmorland and Furness.

To see what events are taking place near you or to have your event added to the list, visit the Zero Carbon Cumbria website.

The annual campaign sees schools, hospitals, workplaces and communities across the UK run events and campaigns to inspire people to take simple steps to protect their and their families’ health from air pollution.

Air pollution affects you from your first breath to your last and causes up to 36,000 deaths in the UK every year. Clean air is essential for our health, and the co-benefits of clean air measures are good for our wellbeing as well as the planet.

The good news is that our air pollution crisis is solvable and there are simple steps we can all take to improve the quality of the air we breathe and cut down on the pollution we emit.

We can all help by:

• Changing the way we travel – incorporating more walking, cycling and public transport is a great way to reduce our impact on the environment, improve our health and fitness, all while saving some money.
• Not idling our engines – idling is a significant contributor to local air pollution but switching off our engine when stationary, for example when waiting at traffic lights, can help.
• Going electric. Consider joining a growing number of electric vehicle owners next time you need to change your car or van. A map of electric vehicle charging locations can be found on our website.

Visit the Clean Air Day website for more information.

Want to take climate action but not sure where to begin?

Westmorland and Furness Libraries are responding to the climate emergency by setting up free climate reading groups across the county.

Join over 80 active readers, and growing, and meet with others in your area to read, learn and discuss the climate emergency.

If you are interested in finding or starting your local climate reading group, email Hannah Clarke.

Image description: an open book with a tree growing from it.