Herdwick Sheep

Perhaps the main influence on the Lake District landscape is that which is exerted by upland hill farming. It's hard to imagine that without any human intervention by grazing with sheep or tree felling, many Lakeland valleys would be densely wooded up to the higher fells.

Cumbria has two native sheep breeds; the Rough Fell, which tends to be more common around the Shap fells to the east of the County and the Herdwick which is distributed over much of the central and western Fells.

Herdwick ram

Both native breeds are considered threatened by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) as over 75% of their population are found within a radius of less than 20 kilometres. This makes them extremely vulnerable to disease epidemics such as Foot and Mouth and Bluetongue. The most at risk of the two breeds is the Rough Fell which is listed as Category 2, Endangered.

Rough Fell ram

Although the Herwick is commonly seen around the central Lake District fells, it is listed as a Category 3 breed, which is classed as Vulnerable. The Herdwick is believed to have become established from a flock of 40 sheep that were washed ashore from a Norwegian ship that was wrecked off the Cumbrian coast in the tenth century, but nobody really knows for sure.

The Herdwick is an extremely hardy breed and can survive up on the high fells throughout the winter. Sheep owned by different farms remaining mostly separate due to their ability to become heafed (or hefted). Heafing is when individual sheep return to the area of fell where they were weaned as lambs. So if a lamb is brought up on a particular area of fell it will, by and large, remain in that area without the need for any fences.

When first born the lambs are very dark brown (almost black) in colour and as they mature firstly their faces start to become paler.

Herdwick lamb

The main body of the sheep also becomes lighter over time and at the age of around one year you have what is referred to as a hogget, or hog. 

Herdwick hogget

Eventually the hoggets lighten even more in colour to the characteristic grey fleece of the sheep that is most commonly encountered. The fleece these days is worth very little, though it is extremely hard-wearing so is excellent for making rugs and carpets and can also be blended with softer wool to make it more suitable for knitting.

Freshly sheared Herdwick ewes

Herdwick meat and woollen products are now much more widely available from farm shops and specialist retail outlets around Cumbria, so next time you see some why not give them a try?

All photos credited to K. Burrows

Work Continues at Stickle Ghyll

Over the last few weeks we have been steadily working our way higher up Stickle Ghyll. The section that we are working on has proved to be extremely challenging, as much of the path has become so badly eroded all the soil has now gone and it's right down to the bedrock in many areas. Where the bedrock isn't actually showing it is often just below the ground, right where you want to build the new path! This makes it extra difficult to repair the path as it usually means that the bedrock has to be chipped out with either a crowbar, or sledge hammer, and the path has to be adapted to fit around any underlying rock.

Typical section of bedrock

The photograph above shows one such section. You can see the bedrock to the right of the photograph and if you look more closely you can see that it stretches right across the path too. What you can't see is that it is also about 30cm (or less) below the current level of the path.

Because of this underlying rock the left hand side of the path had to be built up with large boulders, so that the path could be properly tightened between them, and the bedrock that can be seen on the opposite side of the path. Without these large stones, the path would have just been sticking out of the ground, perched on the rock below, and would have quickly fallen out. In addition to this, even more care than usual was put into the selection of each pitching stone. As not only had the path to be suitable to walk on, it also had to fit around the bedrock underneath the path.

Section of completed path



Now this section of path is finished you'd never know the full extent of the bedrock. If the path had been left unrepaired it is likely to have eroded right down to the underlying rock and people would have tried to find an alternative route around it. This would have made the erosion damage much worse, and also made any future repair work even more difficult.

Looking out for Mountain Ringlets

This time of the year is a wonderful time to see a wealth of different insect species while you're out enjoying your walk. A wide variety of dragonflies and damselflies inhabit the becks and tarns including the impressive Golden-ringed Dragonfly, the Large Red Damselfly and the Common Darter.

 Large Red Damselfly

On a good sunny day, if you wander into any taller vegetation a bit further off the beaten track, there's also a good chance of disturbing moths such as Yellow Shell and Green Carpet or possibly Map-winged Swift, whose larvae are closely associated with bracken roots.

 Map-winged Swift

While walking the fells it's also possible to see a good array of butterflies, including more common species such as the Red Admiral and Painted Lady at lower altitudes and as you gain a bit more height, less well known butterflies like the Small Heath (probably the most common butterfly on the higher fell) and the Mountain Ringlet.

 Small Heath butterfly

The Mountain Ringlet butterfly is a rare and incredibly under recorded species. It is found on mountainous slopes dominated by Mat-grass, at an altitude of between 500 and 750 metres, with the Lake District being to the far south of it's British distribution. The Mountain Ringlet tends to fly close to the ground and will often disappear out of sight as soon as the wind picks up, or the sun clouds over. The best period to see this butterfly is from mid-June until late-July.

Mountain Ringlet

Whenever we are out and about during June and July if we happen to stumble across one of these rare butterflies we always record it's whereabouts and forward on the information to the Cumbrian Biological Records Centre based at Tullie House in Carlisle, here's a link to their excellent website http://www.lakelandwildlife.co.uk/

This year, to try and gain a bit more knowledge about the Mountain Ringlet's abundance, distribution, and habitat preferences Butterfly Conservation are running a survey, and they could do with as much help as possible. If you fancy taking part in this years Mountain Ringlet Survey, have a look at the website of the Cumbria Branch of Butterfly Conservation or download the information sheets below:

Mountain Ringlet Information

Mountain Ringlet Surveyors Notes

Mountain Ringlet Record Form

The Grasmere Gallop 2011

As a bit of a change from rolling rocks around up on the fell, last week we came down to slightly lower ground to help out with stewarding the Grasmere Gallop. It's hard to believe that only last year the National Trust stepped in and took over the management of the Gallop, which had been an annual event in the area but had unfortunately been discontinued a couple of years ago.

The new National Trust managed event has been slightly altered by changing the main route into a 10 kilometre race, as well as the main race there's also a 5 kilometre Fun Run and a Teddy Dash for the under 5's. So on the day of the Gallop, we went out, flag in hand, to various strategic points around the course. Our job mostly consisted of; being there in case of any emergency, letting walkers, cyclists and motorists know exactly what was going on, to offer a bit of support to any of the runners who might need it and watch out for any shortcutting (which, of course, there wasn't).

 New flags waiting to be taken out

So while several members of National Trust staff ably assisted by numerous volunteers went and took to their positions around the circuit, things were beginning to hot up over in Grasmere as the event got under way.

Warming up ready for the race

Around 250 competitors turned out for the 10k race, and luckily we had some great weather. Once the runners had been registered they all began to assemble in the "Muster Area" prior to the race. Once all together, they were lead from here to the start of the race, in the centre of Grasmere village, by our very own piper, National Trust Ranger Iain Grey.

National Trust ranger and piper Iain, here with the Fun Run competitors

Once the race was under way it wasn't long until the first competitors came past, we were situated around the midway point of the race and even by this stage the first two runners had already built up a sizeable lead. This lead wasn't to be overturned and the two leading the pack carried on to finish one-two in the race, the race winner was Carl Bell in a fantastic 36 minutes and 16 seconds.

The race winner approaching the finish line

At the same time as the winner was crossing the line, there would have still been about another hundred competitors yet to come past us. Of course it's not all about the winning, it was just great to see everyone seemingly enjoying themselves, those further back in the field taking the time to say "hello" or "thank you" as they ran past.

 Looking back towards Grasmere 

Once the last few competitors had past us we upped-flags and repositioned ourselves ready for the 5k Fun Run which was eventually won by sixteen year old Will Smith in a time of 20 minutes and 58 seconds. Will had already competed the 10k race, and finished second!

Last, but by no means least, came the Teddy Dash that by all accounts was as hotly contested as all the other runs. Our thanks go to everyone who came along on the day, whether as a competitor, spectator, volunteer or whatever other involvement you may have had to make our first Grasmere Gallop such a fun and successful event.

Landscaping at Stickle Ghyll

Over the last couple of weeks our work has focused on landscaping work at Stickle Ghyll. While we were bagging up rock for the helicopter lifts we filled several of the bags with large "landscaping" stone that we use to help define the path. This helps stop people (or sheep) wandering along the edge of the path, forming a channel which water gets into and starts eroding the edge of the path. This if left unattended can cause the path to become undermined and eventually cause the path to fall out. As sections of the path have been in place for nearly twenty years the tell-tale signs of erosion have begun.

So during the helicopter lifts we had the bags of landscaping stone dropped next to the path where there were signs of erosion beginning. In addition to the rock which was flown, any suitable rock was moved by hand from the fellside.

Before Landscaping (Lower Section)

After Landscaping (Lower Section)

As you can see from the photos, once the large rocks have been dug into position the areas of erosion have been greatly reduced producing a footpath that is more defined and natural looking. 

Before Landscaping (Upper Section)

After Landscaping (Upper Section) 

With all the rock now in position, we needed extra soil to assist with seed growth and roughing up the landscaped areas. To generate some soil we dug out areas around the landscaping stones and filled them in with rubble. These pits were topped off with some of the soil we'd dug out, and the rest was used elsewhere.

Finally we re-used any turfs that we had removed and put down some grass seed. Providing we manage to get a good growing season the path should quickly start to blend in much better with its surroundings.

Helicopter Lifts at Stickle Ghyll

Last week started off with helicopter lifts at Stickle Ghyll. The lifts had been scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, so Monday morning we went and put some signs out to let everyone know that we'd be moving rock in the area. Although the pilot had managed to fly down from Inverness that morning, the wind on higher ground was just too gusty and he wasn't very keen to be flying with a tonne bag of rock underneath his helicopter so we rescheduled for Tuesday.
The following day proved to be much better, the wind had dropped nicely but unfortunately there was some low cloud hanging around. Low cloud makes for difficult flying conditions, especially when you're getting in close to the crags, as you really need to have good all-round visibility. The cloud didn't really cause us any problems until around lunchtime when it suddenly dropped lower and forced us to stop for around an hour until it lifted again. Except for that delay the lifts went relatively smoothly and we got all 98 bags flown by the end of the day.

Moving Rock at Stickle Ghyll

Once the lifts were out of the way, we set to work on repairing the section of path just before the stepping stones, which we'd completed a couple of weeks ago. The section that we needed to repair had become badly eroded, as during really heavy rainfall the beck often overflows at the stepping stones. When this happens the water then runs down the path which has caused it to be gradually washed away over the years.

Section of path in need of repair

When we bagged up the pitching stone prior to the helicopter lifts, we also filled up several bags with extra large "landscaping stone". Landscaping stone is generally used next to the edge of the path to stop people from wandering off it and causing erosion damage. So during the lifts, we flew in a few bags of landscaping stone specifically for this section of path. With the rock now in place, we moved the stone into position to the edge of the path forming a revetment to help retain the footpath. We then replaced the damaged section of the original footpath with some new larger rock. We are hoping that by building a substantial revetment and using this bigger rock the path will be more equipped to stand up to the beck overflowing. Time will tell.

After repair, showing retaining stones next to the path

The path after repair, looking towards the stepping stones

Repair work at Mickleden and Stickle

Last week we were again joined by the Fix the Fells volunteer lengthsmen for a work party. We generally run at least one work party each month where the lengthsmen get hands-on experience of footpath repair work.  Last weeks session was again held at Mickleden and nine volunteers came along to help out. In a similar fashion to last months work party the weather was not on our side. Despite the poor weather, between us all we completed a good amount of pitching and also replaced some stepping stones, with something a little more substantial, as the old ones were starting to get washed away.

Lengthsmen pitching at Mickleden

As we've been waiting for the helicopter lift at Stickle Ghyll, so that we can get the rock moved to site for this years work we are still fairly limited to what we can do up there. We therefore decided to make use of some stone that had been moved on a previous lift, but we'd not had the opportunity to use. 

A section of path had started to become undermined so we'd had some large rocks dropped nearby so that we could build up the edge of the path and prevent it from collapsing.

Under-cut footpath at Stickle Ghyll

Although we didn't have to move the rock too far (it can just be seen towards the top of the photo, next to the path) it wasn't the easiest to get into position, as rolling it over the path and off  the edge proved quite challenging to do in a controlled manner. Once the first rock was in place at the bottom of the slope we positioned the others behind it. We then tightened all the rocks against each other and also to the path, finally we filled in the gaps with rubble and topped it off with some soil.

Footpath after repair work

We've still got to put some grass seed down around the rocks to help everything stabilise and blend in a bit better with its surroundings but at least the path is safe from falling out now, preventing a much larger job than if we'd needed to rebuild the whole section of path.