Here's the car park at Hardknott Forest. The day before this we'd had a group from Millom School, there was a large DofE group & a large group from the local outdoor centre. Not a scrap of litter to be seen! Nice to share good news! (There were 2 dog poo bags though, from forgetful owners I expect).

Summer newsletter out now: news on our first year of Landscape Recovery, lichens & temperate rainforests, update on our documentary, grassland monitoring and events & volunteering dates. @forestryengland.bsky.social @envleeds.bsky.social mailchi.mp/leeds.ac.uk/...

It's that time again. A lot of people/a few of you/no-one at all* have been asking when the next newsletter is out! Chill! It's on the way & includes our fave lichen, citizen science, meadow monitoring & a look at Year 1 of landscape recovery. *delete as applicable 📰➡️ mailchi.mp/1dd189bd3314...

Upper Duddon Landscape Recovery staff have been celebrating the first year as a project by showing groups the work done so far. Lots of river restoration, wildlife news, leaky dams, work on farms & the odd chat about larch. Follow us to keep up to date. @envleeds.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social

Climate researcher, global cycling legend, Hardknott volunteer and all-round good guy Ben Silver has an ongoing research project with us into "THE COOLING EFFECTS OF TREE COVER". Very topical this week, and his research is ongoing, with some earlier results here ⤵️ bag.leeds.ac.uk/projects/res...

Our monitoring officer Ishbel has been making the most of the weather to record the flowering plants we have in our grasslands. More about these in our next newsletter, for now just enjoy some of her photos alongside various invertebrates. Newsletter sign up here: bag.leeds.ac.uk/projects/res...

Maths fans will realise that removing 1000s of tree tubes, with two zip ties per tube, is a lot of zip ties. Probably about double. As they are reusable, (but can't be recycled along with the tubes) we are offering them free to a good home. Get in touch - they literally have 103 uses. Or more.

What have we achieved in the first year of the Upper Duddon Landscape Recovery project? Come to one of our site tours and find out. Booking links on our events page here: bag.leeds.ac.uk/projects/res... @universityofleeds.bsky.social @lakedistrictnpa.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social

We ran a couple of volunteer walling days last week. Really good quality work from both groups thanks to top teaching from Steve @nationaltrust.org.uk. Get the newsletter for info on future events: mailchi.mp/1dd189bd3314... @lanss-uk.bsky.social @cumbriacvs.bsky.social

Exciting to see red squirrels & pine martens in the same woodland. This would once have been a common site in Cumbria. We saw many examples of this in the pine marten donor site in the Scottish Highlands. This camera was set up by Millom School pupils, the wildlife experts of the future.

There are spaces left to help get plastic tree tubes off the fell and allow a new woodland to thrive. We saw a red squirrel here last week. www.trybooking.com/uk/GIEE

Fancy working with the Upper Duddon Landscape Recovery team? The National Trust are offering a Level 2 Assistant Ranger Apprentice role. Deadline 22nd June. Click the link below for more information. Please share. bit.ly/43p5BGh

A ubiquitous helium balloon found by Ewan on our volunteer day yesterday. At least this one has a warning sticker on it, so that's alright. @envleeds.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social @forestryengland.bsky.social @cumbriacvs.bsky.social @keepbritaintidy.bsky.social

Great to spot a pair of ring ouzels on our heathland monitoring day this week. We like to think they'll appreciate the work that the Upper Duddon Landscape Recovery project is doing to improve these habitats. Video by our new ranger Abbey. Photos below. @rspb.bsky.social @cumbriauni.bsky.social

Removing sitka spruce and ring barking larch in temperate rainforest today. Great work from our vols in the scorchio conditions. @forestryengland.bsky.social @guyshrubsole.bsky.social @cumbriacvs.bsky.social

Thanks to everyone who came to chat to us at the Ulverston Volunteer Fair yesterday & thanks to the organisers @cumbriacvs.bsky.social. A lot* of people were asking to see more of the #plinths we use to display photos, so here they are! Handcrafted from trees from Hardknott Forest! (* 🤷‍♂️)

Come & learn more about our butterflies from Francesca from Nature Rich Miterdale. @leedsleaf.bsky.social @forestryengland.bsky.social @nationaltrust.org.uk @ukbutterflies.bsky.social

We'll be here tomorrow. Call in if you can. @cumbriacvs.bsky.social @thisisulverston.bsky.social

Here's a quick walk through from our first community tree nursery day today. More days coming up next month, check out the dates here ➡️ bag.leeds.ac.uk/projects/res...

We've just updated our events page, so check it out for: ➡️ site tours 🥾 ➡️ volunteering days ⚒️ ➡️ tree nursery days 🌳 ➡️ walling days 🧱 ...& more...shares welcome. bag.leeds.ac.uk/projects/res... @envleeds.bsky.social @cumbriacvs.bsky.social @johnmuirtrust.bsky.social @lakedistrictnpa.bsky.social

Just home after the brilliant Cumbria Nature Festival. Huge congratulations need to go to the organisers for a brilliant event at a lovely venue. The food, music, beer, talks and activities were all excellent. @leedsleaf.bsky.social @cumbriacvs.bsky.social @cumbriawildlife.bsky.social

Spring scenes in the Upper Duddon valley.

Decent weather is essential for butterfly monitoring, otherwise they'll hunker down somewhere. Here's some we spotted this week. The hows and whys of our butterfly monitoring are covered in this blog ➡️ bag.leeds.ac.uk/projects/res... @savebutterflies.bsky.social @earthandenvleeds.bsky.social

The first day of this year's breeding bird survey was exciting enough as it was, but being distracted by home grown pine marten droppings made it even better.

Visit our events page to join us at....dry stone walling days, a dawn chorus walk, habitat creation, tree nursery days, Autumn residential weekend, planting trees & wildflowers, removing plastic tree tubes & more!. All welcome. Contact us for more info. Please share. bag.leeds.ac.uk/projects/res...

Our Spring newsletter is out now and includes: the return of the pine marten to Cumbria, information on lichens, oak gall wasps, new events and volunteer dates and, of course, a poo quiz. us4.campaign-archive.com?u=016c89990c...