Cumbria Wildlife Trust is officially on a mission to create the highest nature reserve in England, and it wants your help.
Right now, the charity is trying to crowdfund £1.25m to purchase Skiddaw Forest in the north of the Lake District, including Skiddaw, the sixth tallest mountain in England. It’s already been given £5m from Aviva’s £38m fund for UK rainforest restoration and public donations would help it reach Skiddaw’s asking price of £6.25 million.
There are very few trees in Skiddaw Forest at the moment — it’s mostly grassland. Once it’s secured, the trust plans to plant 300,000 native trees across 250 hectares of the reserve and encourage the natural regeneration of trees and scrubs to eventually create a fully-fledged woodland. With a summit of 931m, it would be the highest altitude nature reserve in England.
Stephen Trotter, chief executive of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said: ‘It’s not every day you get the chance to buy a mountain – in fact, you never get the chance, especially in the Lake District. It’s really exciting to have the opportunity to put some nature back into this landscape.’
David Sharrod, chair of trustees at the charity, added: ‘Making space for nature in Cumbria, a nature-depleted county, is now incredibly urgent as the climate crisis becomes pressing.
‘An opportunity of this magnitude is something to behold. Skiddaw is famed around the world as a significant peak of the Lake District National Park and World Heritage Site cultural landscape, for good reason. In terms of profile, it doesn't get much better than this.’
You can help out and donate to Cumbria Wildlife Trust here.
Wild Britain with Time Out
If you can’t get enough of Mother Nature, take a look at our list of the best places to see rare and wonderful wildlife in the UK or gander through our roundup of images from Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024. And in other recent conservation news, a lost ancient rainforest in Wales is being brought back to life, baby beavers have been born in London for the first time in 400 years and beautiful white storks could be coming back to London.
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