We often get questions about our farming operation, so this Nature-Friendly Farming Week (19-25 May 2025), grab a brew and a biscuit (locally produced of course) and settle down to read all about what we’re up to on our not-so-conventional farm here at Wild Haweswater…
From initially protecting England’s only Golden Eagles, to building our knowledge and understanding of the plants and animals in this landscape, our work at Wild Haweswater has grown and grown since 1969. In 2011 we were able to take on the tenancy of two farms across three valleys here, and since then we’ve been working hard to restore and return natural processes from the fells to the floodplains. Our aim is to farm the land in a slightly different way, by focussing our efforts on delivering wide ranging benefits to society – reduced flooding, improved drinking water quality, storing carbon, and protecting and enhancing some of the UK’s rarest and most valuable habitats for generations to come, as well as for the wildlife that calls it home.
We’re really proud to have restored wildflower meadows in Swindale, returned salmon to a stretch of Swindale Beck, set up the largest native tree and plant nursery in the Lake District, and created new jobs across livestock management, nature recovery, people engagement and more besides. So let’s dive in…
Landscape and farming changes through the years
The fells, watercourses and rainforests at Wild Haweswater have seen many changes over the years. Diverse farming systems once ruled, using a mix of roaming native pony, cattle, pig and sheep breeds, and traditional hay-making practices filled stone barns across the landscape. These farming methods are what created the wildflower meadows of Swindale for example, that were later designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for their botanical diversity. However, the push to intensify food production after the second World War, driven by government incentives, meant more pressure to farm for food.
Farmers did a fantastic job in responding to that requirement from government and society. The yields flew up, including in the uplands, but it was not foreseen what the consequences for other public goods and nature were going to be. Higher numbers of grazing sheep began to fill the fells, moorlands were drained, and over time the valleys transformed from a thriving place for nature to a place where previous rich biodiversity had been pushed out from many corners. Fears of food supply routes disrupted by war subsided, but the farming practices supported by government continued to drive intensity not environmental sustainability.
The RSPB originally became involved at Wild Haweswater in 1969 when the first Golden Eagles in England for over 170 years came to nest here. We were brought in to ensure the safety of these birds on the land, which is owned by United Utilities, through a 24-hour protection watch and a staffed viewpoint. Thanks to those efforts and those of other partners and landowners in this part of the Lake District, the species remained here for the best part of 50 years. However, in 2015 the last male died – it was a sad symbol of the degraded ecological condition of the landscape and England has sadly been deprived of the king of the birds ever since.
The loss of the Golden Eagle is just one story but it’s a tale which has driven our work and shaped what we do to this day – recovering the landscape of Wild Haweswater for the benefit of wildlife, water and people. With that in mind, in the early 90s our small team took on additional wardening duties, from bird and plant surveys in the temperate rainforest and on the fells, to setting up a small tree nursery, tree planting, dry stone walling and fencing, and eventually taking on the tenancy of Naddle and Swindale Foot farms in 2011/12, when the previous tenants moved on to buy their own farms. With the two farms combined, our in-bye land (enclosed land within the farm boundary – essentially mostly in the valley bottoms, not on the fell tops) and commons rights stretch across around 30km2 (1% of the Lake District National Park), which we manage as one operation together.
Utilising sustainable farming practices for landscape restoration
The aim since then has been landscape restoration, delivering key benefits to society that the uplands are crucial to achieving – improved drinking water quality, reduced flood, fire and drought risk, carbon storage, increased biodiversity, public access and recreation, utilising some traditional and sustainable farming practices. These are the products we are farming at Wild Haweswater. It might not be your usual idea of farming, it’s certainly not conventional farming, but farming and land management has always been about adapting to the changing needs of society at the right time and in the right place.
The Lake District National Park is a varied landscape which supports people and nature in different ways, and always will be. The approach we are taking at Wild Haweswater is focussing on the needs of this specific slice of the Lake District at this time, but this won’t be the same everywhere. The Lake District National Park’s partnership plan and the full Lake District World Heritage inscription is clear that this is not a static landscape but a continually evolving one.
So, why nature recovery here? The uplands are categorised as ‘less favourable’ and ‘severely disadvantaged’ under government support programmes, because the climate, soils, terrain and distance from market make them a challenging place to produce food economically. They often require additional feed, fuel and fertiliser to be delivered to livestock, decreasing the economic viability further. With international government commitments to ensure 30% of land is effectively protected and well-managed for nature by 2030, our approach at Wild Haweswater is helping to achieve these vital nature targets in a place well suited to delivering a wide range of public goods as opposed to purely food production.
What are the challenges?
Although the Haweswater landscape is undoubtedly beautiful – full of the characteristic Lake District grandeur, on closer inspection, there are some major challenges for nature and the resources we are dependent on as a society.
❌ Peat bogs on the fell tops, drained after the war, have lost their vital carbon and water storage capabilities. Dry and over-grazed peat bogs emit carbon and can no longer hold onto water, increasing flood, fire and drought risk, decreasing raw water quality (through washed away peat and dissolved carbon) and reducing the plants and wildlife that rely on wet, functioning bogs.
❌ Artificially straightened and embanked river channels, carried out around 150 years ago, had removed the natural features of Swindale Beck and other water courses on-site. As with many past decisions, this made sense at the time as the aim was to try and get water off the hay meadows as quickly as possible in the event of a flood. But removing the natural bends and features of the river course also resulted in water from the fells rushing down much more quickly – increasing flood risk downstream, reducing water quality and removing the gravels, riffles, rocks, pools and other natural features needed by aquatic plants, insects, fish and birds. The embankments also meant that when flood waters did spill out, they were prevented from getting back into the river, holding the water on the meadows for longer and affecting the hay crop.
❌ Over-grazing by high numbers of sheep (there had previously been as many as 3000 at Naddle Farm and 1500 in Swindale) and unnaturally high numbers of wild deer (a common problem across the UK in the absence of natural predators), had reduced the abundance of trees and wildflowers here. The absence of trees and reduced diversity of plants across large parts of the site meant that water could rush down valley sides quickly, removing its resilience to drought, fire and flood, decreasing drinking water quality and the number of species supported.
❌ Bracken and other coarse vegetation had become dominant, as sheep don’t like to eat or trample them. Coarse vegetation out competes more delicate plants, reducing diversity. Naddle Forest, one of the largest remaining areas of temperate rainforest in the Lake District, and a designated SSSI and SAC, was in very poor condition due to unnaturally high numbers of wild deer preventing the natural regeneration of trees and forest-floor plants, and historic grazing of the forest by sheep.
❌ Swindale Meadows had become a SSSI and SAC due to traditional haymaking practices over many years, but intensive farming techniques in more recent times, such as the use of fertiliser and additional manure, had degraded them and reduced the abundance and variety of wildflowers that the site was designated for, and in turn the insects and other life those plants support.
❌ All of the above challenges, lead to decreased raw water quality in Haweswater reservoir, which is the most important reservoir in the region, supplying over two million people across Cumbria and the North West with their daily drinking water.
What are the solutions?
The theme of this year’s Nature-Friendly Farming Week is ‘more than growing food’, celebrating where food production works alongside delivering other vital resources, for example restoring habitats, protecting wildlife, and strengthening local communities. Whether you’re a farmer or simply care about food, nature and climate, there are lots of ways to get involved, so do check out the website.
Here in the uplands, change is a slow process. There’s no magic wand to restore these habitats and natural processes overnight, but here are some of the ways we’ve been working with local partners, neighbouring landowners and many local volunteers to help the landscape recover:
✅ Re-wetting peat bogs – by blocking up 29 miles of drainage ditches and re-profiling eroded peat, it has allowed Sphagnum Mosses (the building block of peat bogs that can hold 20 times their own weight in water) to build up again, keeping the water on the tops for longer and slowing its flow to reduce flood, fire and drought risk. Wet peat bogs also absorb carbon, act as a natural filter for drinking water and reduce soil erosion. Ecologically functioning, wet peat bogs are home to a diverse range of plant, insect, amphibian and bird life.
✅ Re-wiggling 1km of Swindale Beck and removing its embankments to reconnect it to its floodplain. This allows the river to function naturally – its natural riffles, pools, gravels and other features returned instantly, slowing the flow of water, improving water quality and increasing the aquatic plants, insects, fish and birds the river supports. Within three months of this work’s completion, salmon returned to spawn in this section for the first time in 150 years.
✅ We’ve set up the largest native tree and plant nursery in the Lake District – grown from local seed collected on-site, to ensure the resultant trees and plants are resilient to this challenging terrain and weather. We’ve planted tens of thousands of plants and trees back into the landscape, to help hold water in the system – slowing the flow, building drought and fire resilience, storing carbon. They also provide shade and shelter to livestock and wildlife. Crucially they are a filter system for drinking water and are a seed source for natural regeneration.
✅ Steadily reducing sheep numbers down to a more sustainable level over the years, from 1700 when we took on the farms to 300 more recently, and only grazing them on the in-bye. For the past three years we’ve been trialling a regenerative farming approach with this flock whereby we moved the whole lot from field to field every few days, which gave each field big rest periods between grazing – benefitting soils, wildlife, water and the sheep themselves.
Our regenerative grazing trial with our in-bye flock of sheep showed some positive results, but ultimately the indication was that recovery wasn’t as rapid or as significant as when the larger animals were grazing, and we need to do the right thing for nature here. We will still bring in low numbers of sheep as a tool for short periods, on certain parts of the site where it is appropriate, but having our own flock is costly and we’ve found that native cattle and Fell Pony grazing is better delivering the needs of nature recovery. We therefore recently made the decision to remove our 300 in-bye sheep from our farms.
✅ Introducing native cattle and Fell Pony grazing at lower levels, alongside sustainably controlling wild deer numbers to more natural levels. Large herbivores graze differently to sheep. They will tackle coarser, denser vegetation, creating a diverse height with some longer and some shorter areas. They spread wildflower seed in their dung and trample areas dominated by Bracken and coarse grasses giving more delicate plants chance to grow through and helping tree regeneration.
✅ We’ve restored 13ha of meadows in Swindale. In late spring and early summer, they’re awash with the rainbow colours of Wood Cranesbill, Melancholy Thistle, Yellow Rattle, Eyebright, Common Bistort, Pignut, Sweet Vernal Grass, Great Burnet, Meadow Buttercup and more. The areas outside of the designated area are becoming as diverse as those within it. Thanks to the grazing by Fell Ponies, Devil’s Bit Scabious has made a massive comeback, leading to the re-colonisation of the rare Marsh Fritillary butterfly.
✅ Naddle Forest is being enhanced and protected through deer control and by planting to expand it for the future. Bracken is an indicator of where trees used to grow, so we use it as a guide of where to put trees back into the landscape.
✅ Creating around 20 jobs with a mix of staff working on livestock, land management, nature recovery and people engagement to achieve our aims of farming for public goods, restoring habitats and seeing the return of lost species.
What next for nature-friendly farming at Wild Haweswater?
💧 We are focussed on continuing to deliver a range of societal benefits including nature recovery, clean drinking water, climate resilience and carbon storage. We will do this through a mix of traditional farming practices alongside modern land management techniques and continue to make adaptions as we go forward. Changes to past intensive grazing practices at Wild Haweswater are key to achieving these aims and as conservationists who are also farmers, we make nature-led landscape recovery decisions about the types and numbers of livestock we use to manage the land to achieve our aims. This is the case for other farmers locally and more widely across the Lake District National Park with several of our neighbours making similar shifts in their farming operations. As a farm business we need to respond to the climate and nature crisis and put our operation on a sound economic footing too.
🐂 🐴 We will continue using traditional farming practices with our mix of around 20 native breed cattle – some Belted Galloways and Luings plus native Cumbrian Fell Ponies which better deliver our landscape restoration aims, and we’re looking forward to welcoming our new livestock team in the coming months. We will then be looking to grow the numbers of both cattle and Fell Ponies over the coming years. These will require skilled staff to care for them, so keep an eye on our vacancies if you have expertise in managing cattle and ponies and would like to join our team.
🏆 Over the years since we took on our farm tenancies, we’re thrilled that our partnership landscape restoration work has won multiple national and international awards in recognition of what we’ve achieved so far. But ultimately the nature and climate crises cannot be solved in isolation. The climate crisis is the single biggest threat to food and water security and is causing increased flood, drought and fire risk to homes and businesses. The biodiversity crisis sees the UK receiving the shocking accolade of being one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, with one in six species here at risk of extinction.
🌱 So, we’re also looking beyond our borders. We’re one of the pilot sites for the new government Landscape Recovery Schemes and are a core site in the ambitious Cumbria Connect partnership programme, teaming up with local farmers, landowners and organisations looking to restore and enhance this landscape for the benefit of wildlife, water and people.
How can you support nature-friendly farming?
- Discover the Nature Friendly Farmer Network, which leads on Nature-Friendly Farming Week and many other brilliant initiatives here.
- Find out more about the nature-friendly farming and food systems the RSPB is working towards with farmers here.
- Farm Wildlife is a partnership of organisations working together to provide a single source of best-practice management advice for wildlife on farmland.
Any questions?
Get in touch – [email protected]
Read more
Image credits
- Some of our Belted Galloway cattle grazing on Mardale Common, next to Haweswater reservoir. Image by M.Scott
- View over Haweswater reservoir, which supplies over 2 million people in Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester with their daily drinking water. Image by D.Morris.
- Swindale Beck before and after re-wiggling. Image thanks to Google Earth and the BBC
- Native Cumbrian Fell Ponies in Swindale Meadows. They are ideally suited to the weather and terrain at Wild Haweswater and the way they graze and trample is helping us to achieve our landscape recovery aims here. Image by Mark Williamson Photography.
- Some of our Belted Galloway and Luing cattle on Mardale Common. These hairy, hardy, Scottish breed cattle trample and graze coarse grasses and dominant Bracken, helping to allow more diverse and delicate plants and trees to grow through. Image by Mark Williamson Photography
– Blog by Annabel Rushton, RSPB People and Partnerships Manager at Wild Haweswater. Posted 20 May 2025
