Reports

ISAAC JOHNSTON Cumbria Wildlife Trust ‘’Plans for Skiddaw Forest’’ 2nd Sept

We came back today after our summer break and it was lovely to see everyone catching up with the news from around the room, it looked like everyone had enjoyed their summer.

We kicked off the new season with a talk by the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust’s Isaac Johnston who told us about their plans for Skiddaw Forest. Isaac replaced of Pete Jones as speaker.

He explained that the 1100 hectare area to the east of Skiddaw’s summit had been the biggest purchase the trust had ever made and had been made possible with donations by the public alongside a huge donation by Aviva. They had given the trust £26 million with £5million going towards the £6million cost of the forest area.
Isaac gave a brief history of the area explaining that 400 million years ago it had been part of a shallow ocean, which explained why the area was not craggy like most of the Lake District but had been shaped by sediment being pushed around during the later glacial changes to the area. Lots of peat creation followed the retreat of the ice and this fostered the temperate rain forest which existed from that period until fairly recently - and it is the recreation of this ecology that was the main reason for the trust’s purchase of the land in September 2024.

Their aim is to plant 600,000 trees and they are now hard at work collecting suitable seeds and seedling from around Cumbria - they are being careful to only use local seeds and plants as these will stand the best chance of thriving and fit in with the whole concept of local regeneration. They have been helped in their planning by peat surveys conducted by Cambridge University which has given them a glimpse of the Skidded Forest of 3000 years ago and by lots and lots of volunteers who are helping with tree planting, seed germination and many time consuming surveys. The bird surveys have identified existing species and the hope is that over the 100 year plan for the area these will greatly increase alongside other wildlife.
At the moment there is no grazing going on in the forest but over the years it is expected that in collaboration with local farmers some will happen as a way of mimicking life from long ago.

The talk was illustrated with many photos and the members were fascinated to find out about such an exciting project so close to us.