Riverlands: working to restore the Lake District's waterways

29 November 2023

One year anniversary of the RiverPrize win

A year ago today, the Riverlands team, along with colleagues from the other organisations that make up the Cumbria River Restoration Strategy, found out the incredible news that they were the collective winners of the European RiverPrize. It was an incredible moment, honouring all the hard work put in by the CRRS partners to improve the health of the rivers across the county.

One year on, we’re all still working hard to restore and protect our rivers and their catchments. We’ve got new projects in the pipeline, new colleagues on the team, and are working in new places. But the commitment remains the same; to restore and protect the rivers in our care, for the benefit of people and nature, now and forever.  

22 November 2023

Phase 3 starting soon on Armboth Fell

This winter, the National Trust's Riverlands project together with our partners will be working on Phase 3 of the Armboth Fell restoration project, to continue restoring the damaged peat and repairing the footpath network across this important peatland habitat.

The works are being carried out by several partners and projects including the National Trust Riverlands project, Fix the Fells, Cumbria Wildlife Trust as part of Natural England’s Nature for Climate Project and supported by United Utilities.

The focus for the Riverlands team this winter is delivering 680m of new path surface across the Armboth Fell ridgeline. This addresses the problem of fell users straying off the aging footpaths in search of a dryer route, and inadvertently causing damage to the surrounding habitat. By providing a clear and resilient line through the peat bog, the new path surfaces will allow an area of 3.3 hectares of damaged and at-risk peat to recover. Work is planned to start in mid-December and will be completed by March next year.

Healthy peatlands are vital to the fight against climate change. They are the UK’s largest carbon store and work to keep water in the land, protecting the landscape both during times of flood and drought. The habitat they provide is home to specialist fauna and flora which are becoming increasingly endangered. A large proportion of England’s peatlands are now damaged by drainage, heavy grazing, burning and recreational use.  Once damaged, the peat dries up and washes away, releasing its carbon stores into the atmosphere.

27 October 2023

Options at Acorn Bank

Over the last few months, we’ve been developing options for the weir at Acorn Bank. There are lots of factors to consider, including the current poor state of repair of the weir, the need to preserve the water supply to the watermill, and the barrier that the weir poses to fish and other riverine species including White Water Crayfish. So, the Riverlands team commissioned Jeremy Benn Associates as external experts to help us understand what our options might be.

JBA have come up with a broad selection for us, ranging from the full removal of the weir, through to options for fish passes or rock ramps. Each option comes with a series of pros and cons, and the next step for the team and stakeholders will be to decide on a preferred solution. It’s certainly a tricky balancing act! So, we’ll be carefully considering all the options to find the one which delivers the best outcome for both nature and heritage in this special landscape.  

21 September 2023

World Rivers Day and the Big River Watch

This Sunday is World Rivers Day. Celebrated on the fourth Sunday in September, it’s a day to highlight the many values of our rivers, increase public awareness of the challenges they face, and encourage improved stewardship of all rivers around the world.

In the UK, the Rivers Trust is marking World Rivers Day by launching The Big River Watch to help build a picture of river health across the country. Simply by downloading an app, and spending 15 minutes observing your local river this weekend, your observations can be uploaded into a national data set that will help the Rivers Trust and other environmental organisations fight for healthier rivers.

Search ‘The Big River Watch’ to download the app and find out more about how to collect data about your local river, or visit worldriversday.com to explore other events happening around the world.

11 September 2023

‘Raindrop to River’ exhibition comes to a close

Tomorrow we’ll be returning to Keswick Museum to take down our temporary exhibition, ‘Raindrop to River’. Produced in partnership with West Cumbria River’s Trust, the exhibition has been on display in the Community Gallery for 6 weeks, telling the story of rivers in the Lake District from their very beginnings as the rain touches the felltops to their end at the sea.

To accompany the exhibition we’ve run several events, including a lunchtime talk, family river-dipping, and guided sessions with the augmented reality sandbox. It’s been fantastic to see how engaged visitors to the museum have been with our exhibition, and especially lovely to see the sandbox on it’s first outing since 2020 – it’s gone down particularly well with all the young visitors to the museum over the summer!

Our thanks go to the team at Keswick Museum for inviting us to be part of their Community Gallery exhibitions, and supporting us through the run.

28 August 2023

River Audit Field Surveys Complete

In April, we announced that the Riverlands project was commissioning an audit of all the rivers on our landholdings in the Lake District. We want to understand how much the rivers in our care have been simplified from their natural form, how resilient the river systems are and how easy (or challenging!) it would be to restore them to a more natural state.

After walking along around 200km of river over the summer, our consultants have finally completed the field studies of all the rivers being assessed. It’s been a huge task, taking 13 weeks to complete, and a vast amount of data has been collected along the way. The next step is to begin processing the data into a useable and accessible format, to help spark conversations with colleagues, partners and tenants, and decide where to focus our attention next.

We’re expecting to start receiving the reports at the end of Autumn – keep checking back as we share our findings.

14 August 2023

Announcing a new project at Acorn Bank

The Riverlands team is delighted to be working on an exciting new project at Acorn Bank.

Crowdundle Beck, which flows through the grounds at Acorn Bank, features a weir which feeds water to the mill downstream. But the weir is being gradually eroded by the river, and we need to take action to stabilise it. It’s also a significant barrier to migratory fish who travel upstream each year to reach their spawning grounds in the headwaters.

So, we’re working with partners to develop a solution to these two problems. It certainly won’t be an easy fix! But we’re looking for a sustainable solution which benefits both people and nature; continuing to supply water to the historic mill while improving the habitat and health of the river.

4 August 2023

'Raindrop to River' at Keswick Museum

Come and visit our temporary exhibition, ‘Raindrop to River’, in the community gallery at Keswick Museum, and join in with our series of free, fun activities.

Brought to you by the National Trust's Riverlands project and West Cumbria Rivers Trust, we explore how humans influence rivers and their wildlife, and how rivers influence our lives and communities. Featuring the interactive ‘augmented reality’ sandbox, you can also have a go at making your own river!

The exhibition runs Sat 5 August to Sun 10 September, and is free to enter (please note normal admission charges apply if you would like to visit the main museum galleries). Find out more at keswickmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/community-gallery

31 July 2023

Today is World Ranger Day

Today is World Ranger Day which celebrates the work of rangers across the globe. It is estimated that there are half a million rangers supporting nature, wildlife and public access. The Riverlands Team is incredibly lucky to not only work with the amazing rangers in the National Trust, but also to have our very own ranger on the team.

We couldn’t have delivered the Riverlands projects without our ranger colleagues – from planting trees to digging ponds or leading guided walks, they are the keystone that holds our projects together. So it’s with heartfelt thanks that we wish them all a happy World Ranger Day!

23 July 2023

It's World Bog Day!

Bog Day is celebrated around the world every year on the fourth Sunday in July. This year it's on Sunday 23rd July. The aim is to celebrate the importance of bogs, fens, swamps and marshes, and it is an opportunity to raise awareness of the threats they face and the ways we can all help to protect them.

Peatlands are wonderfully wild places, home to a rich variety of plants, birds, and insects. They also provide a wide range of services to society, including drinking water, carbon storage, flood prevention and a historical and cultural archive.

Working with partners at Natural England, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, United Utilities and Fix the Fells, the Riverlands project has already restored nearly 90ha of peat bog on Armboth Fell above Borrowdale. And this year we’ll be supporting the work of the Great North Bog project on Armboth, by improving the footpath network across the fell to protect the restored peat, which is easily damaged by walkers straying off the path in search of a dryer route. 

30 June 2023

Bone dry rivers in the Lake District

The rivers in Borrowdale valley – famously England’s reputed wettest location – are in serious prolonged drought conditions. For the third year in a row the River Derwent which flows through Borrowdale has dried up almost completely – and it’s not the only river which is suffering in this summer’s prolonged drought. Across the Lake District, rivers are drying up and lakes are shrinking.

Often watercourses like the River Derwent dry up in drought because they have historically been altered from their natural course. Returning rivers to a more natural state can help make them act less like drains and hold on to more water, which also has benefits in times of extreme rainfall as it slows the flow downstream.

Becky Powell, Riverlands Project Manager says: “The Riverlands project has been working hard to deliver strategies which increase the resilience of our environment and communities to climate change. We have delivered projects across the Lake District, including in Ullswater where Goldrill Beck used to run dry, but is now still flowing despite the dry conditions. This not only helps the river and all the plants and wildlife which rely on it, but it also provides sustainable drinking water for livestock. Storing water in the landscape in this way not only makes it more resilient to drought and wildfire, but to flooding also.”

12 June 2023

We’re celebrating Great Big Green Week!

Running from 10-18 June, Great Big Green Week is the UK's biggest celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. To celebrate the Riverlands team are putting on two guided walks this week, taking a closer look at some of our projects and exploring how they can help mitigate against the impacts of a warming climate.

Taking in our peat restoration project on Armboth Fell and the pond creation project at Dunthwaite, the project team will explain how important it is to slow the flow of water through the landscape. Slowing the flow will protect us, and nature, against the impacts of both drought and floods - which we know will both become more frequent and intense in the future. Check out greatbiggreenweek.com to find an event near you.