Restoration of Ecosystem for the Lake District

Throughout the Lake District was no shortage of sheep, Herdwick Sheep is the native breed and is a cultural icon with Beatrix Potter who spent her lifestyle helping to preserve them. However, my understanding was there was a time when sheep farming was a profitable industry, that was before my time. Nowadays, a sheep farmer who makes a profit is a miracle, according to Sarah and it hasn't helped that the Herdwick Sheep suffered a massive loss of 25%  from Foot and Mouth disease in 2001(Helder-Herdwyck Farm, 2021). I recently learned that animal feed has been getting more expensive, making animal agriculture expensive (GOV.UK, 2022). There's a strong probability that many sheep may be killed just to cope with maintenance costs. A lot of fields will consequently be empty.






This could be an opportunity to replant trees, restore ancient woodlands and produce new bog lands, which helps with ecosystems by giving birds, bugs, and deer a place to live in, help restore trophic levels and act as carbon sinks as plants absorb CO2 to produce Oxygen which will help with Climate Change.

I believe that this is imperative as a recent report from the Forest Research has reported a 14% loss of forests and woodlands across the UK since 2001. (Forest Research, 2019)

Trees are not the only problem to consider as the Lake District is also a biodiversity hotspot. When I did my test on vertebrates in two lakes which both a score of 14. I recently learned that poor agriculture practices like phosphorus and sewage waste was being dumped in Lake Windermere, meaning more action needs to be taken to ensure our lakes and waters are protected (Pye, 2022) 

Some farmers have resorted to tourism options like Bed and Breakfasts, camping opportunities and hiking, and while these are revenue opportunities, which has resulted in 16-19 million visitors in 2021,it brings people who don't understand nature and can harm it. We need to make sure these tourists treat the Lake District with respect as Climate Change is also putting a strain on biodiversity. (Cavallito, 2021). I've done some litter picking at my hostel area filling up one bag worth of rubbish as well as finding a ten year old crisp packet as part of my effort for the environment.








Bog lands, which are wet soils filled with long grass, and compose of dead mosses, could not only play a role in restoring ecosystems but help reverse climate change due to them being natural carbon sinks, even fields with long grass and flowers can help. If we can trigger a flood in various high elevation places, we could create peat and bog lands. Herbivores like sheep and deer can potentially play a role provided that we maintain it carefully (Dangal et al., 2017). We can also plant trees in areas where woodlands used to reside. One problem we'll need to keep an eye on is Deer and Sheep management, grazing, Too little and weeds would grow instead, too much and nothing will grow. 

As I think about restoring the ecosystem, the question is ultimately where all these can take place? Despite it being the Lake District, we only have so much space so we really need to pick and choose. Once we choose somewhere, whatever might have been there will likely need to be removed for the new bogs and/or woodlands.



GOV.UK. (2022). Animal feed prices. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/animal-feed-prices (Accessed 22 May 2022).


Helder-Herdwyck Farm. (2021). The Herdwick Sheep. [online] Available at: http://helderherdwyckfarm.com/the-herdwick-sheep.html (Accessed 26 May 2022).


Forest Research (2019). Woodland Statistics - Forest Research. [online] Forest Research. Available at: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/statistics-by-topic/woodland-statistics/ (Accessed 26 May 2022).


Pye, D. (2022). ‘It Is dire’ Conservationist Speaks out about Water Pollution in the Lakes. [online] The Westmorland Gazette. Available at: https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/20152159.matt-stainek-speaks-water-pollution-lakes/ (Accessed 26 May 2022).


Cavallito, M. (2021). Climate and biodiversity: poets’ Lake District Is the Latest Victim of the Crisis. [online] Re Soil Foundation. Available at: https://resoilfoundation.org/en/environment/lake-district-erosion-biodiversity/ (Accessed 26 May 2022).


Rotherham, I.D. (2021). Peat bogs: Restoring Them Could Slow Climate Change – and Revive a Forgotten World. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/peat-bogs-restoring-them-could-slow-climate-change-and-revive-a-forgotten-world-139182 (Accessed 27 May 2022).

Dangal, S.R.S., Tian, H., Lu, C., Ren, W., Pan, S., Yang, J., Di Cosmo, N. and Hessl, A. (2017). Integrating Herbivore Population Dynamics into a Global Land Biosphere Model: Plugging Animals into the Earth System. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, [online] 9(8), pp.2920–2945. doi:10.1002/2016ms000904. Avaliable at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016MS000904  (Accessed 27 May 2022)

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