You might remember my previous blog introducing Twiggy, a little Red Squirrel with a big message about how trees help reduce flooding. Well she’s recently gone global! Read on to find out more….
What’s happened?
‘Wood You Believe It’ is a visually stunning animated film that illustrates how practical measures can protect homes, farms, and businesses while supporting biodiversity. Narrated by charismatic Twiggy the Red Squirrel, it takes you on an educational journey through the methods and benefits of trees for helping to reduce flooding.
Annecy Animation Film Festival is one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious animated film festivals which was held this week in France, and Twiggy’s film was selected to be part of it!
I (Annabel Rushton, RSPB People and Partnership Manager at Wild Haweswater) was privileged to be chosen to voice Twiggy and think it’s absolutely incredible that ‘Wood You Believe It’ has been selected for Annecy, as it is basically the Cannes of the animation world, so is super prestigious. Thousands of films from around the world applied and Twiggy’s film was selected as part of the final 35 in her category, so I’m really proud it has selected.
“Making this film was an absolute joy for me because it combined two of my personal passions – wildlife and research! Twiggy was built as a life-size, anatomically correct puppet with a huge amount of attention to detail, right down to the number of toes on each foot, though her face was gently worked into a slightly cartoonish direction around the eyes and mouth to help with the animation. Her cheerful, expressive voice actually belongs to a real scientist working in the field, and the character animator used this as a great foundation for adding bags of extra personality through physical performance.
“This film is one of four we shot on Bristol harborside, using a small crew of fabulous people, all committed to sharing the important information around flooding, climate and protecting our natural habitats for future generations. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it!”
– Cadi Calow, Director of the films
What’s the film about?
‘Wood You Believe It’ is part of a series of four films launched late last year. They’re Creature Comforts-style animations, that showcase how natural flood management (NFM) can help protect communities from flooding, enhance biodiversity, and combat climate change. Developed in collaboration with the Environment Agency (EA), RSPB, National Farmers Union (NFU), Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), and the National Trust, and funded by the EA, these captivating short films demonstrate how working with nature can reduce flood risks, improve water quality, and build climate resilience for homes, businesses, and farms across the region.
Natural Flood Management (NFM) is a catch-all term for a variety of landscaping techniques used to hold water back during flood events, which reduce the impact downstream on communities and infrastructure such as bridges.
The techniques explored in these films include improving soils ability to absorb water, so it is less likely to run off into rivers; removing old and dangerous weirs and dams, the benefits of trees and their ability to reduce the impacts of rain even in large storms, and what people can do to their own homes and gardens to reduce their impacts.
Here at Wild Haweswater, we’re deploying a number of NFM methods from re-wiggling rivers to their natural course, to re-wetting peat bogs on the fells and planting thousands of native trees to expand the temperate rainforest here, creating homes for the real-life Twiggys and many other wonderful woodland wildlife.
The four ‘stop-motion’ animated films have been produced as a sequel to the original award-winning films from 2022 and are the result of an exciting collaboration between Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Cumbria Innovative Flood Resilience project, funded by the Environment Agency’s £200m Flood and Coastal Innovation Program
“It’s fantastic to see these films engaging people on flood risk in new ways. You can find out more about this project and our other Flood Coastal Innovation Programmes (FCIP) projects in our mid programme report here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/200m-flood-and-coastal- innovation-programmes-mid-programme-report”
– Andrew Eden, Programme Executive
The Environment Agency know the devastating impact that flooding can have, which is why protecting people and communities is their top priority. They encourage everyone to sign up for flood warnings by calling Flood line on 0345 988 1188, or by visiting https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/warnings so that they have time to prepare in the event of a flood.
“These terrific films illustrate just how many benefits there are of working with our landscape and nature, we not only reduce the devastating impacts of flooding, but enhance our water quality, improve the biodiversity of our country and create richer places to live and work. We can do all of this and at same time not only reduce the impacts of climate change but actively reduce the release of carbon. Talk about a win win!”
– David Kennedy who works for the Environment Agency, wrote and produced the films as well as voicing Twiggy’s sidekick Gregory the Woodpecker
At Wild Haweswater, the RSPB and United Utilities have worked closely with the Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s peatlands team, who deliver a lot of the work to re-wet peat bogs here and elsewhere in the county.
“Cumbria Wildlife Trust works with local landowners and farmers to make Cumbria’s landscape more resilient to the impacts of the climate crisis, such as flooding and drought. Many of the techniques explained in the animations have been used in Cumbria. Restoration of peatland at Tebay Common included the installation of letterbox dams to slow the flow of water, and leaky dams have been installed above a housing estate in Kendal to reduce the impact during a flood event.”
– David Harpley from Cumbria Wildlife Trust
You can view Twiggy’s film ‘Wood You Believe It’ and the other three new films in the series, alongside the original award-winning animations here.
– Blog by Annabel Rushton, RSPB People and Partnerships Manager at Wild Haweswater. Posted 13 June 2025
