Well, it’s been an interesting couple of years developing the Windermere Community Partnership, I can tell you.

The background

Let’s start off with what it is, shall we. The Windermere Community Partnership (WCP) was an idea that started with Jayne, Kath and myself thinking about if and what the Windermere catchment needs. There was no central partnership dedicated to supporting the communities in the Windermere and Leven catchment. To this end, we put in an application and received funding from Garfield Weston in October 2022 to put this idea into practice.

Initially, we created an action plan which included vision planning, events and volunteer opportunities for the communities of Windermere. The Windermere catchment itself is much larger than the lake itself, including a number of remote communities in many parishes. We invited people to join the partnership and develop ideas and work streams to support the long term vision to improve Windermere. More specifically to have a gold standard catchment for people and wildlife; a catchment to be proud of.

Activity

We developed the WCP hub, an online forum with spaces to chat, check out upcoming events, share ideas and ask questions of the Love Windermere Partnership; a direct link through SCRT. There was also a resources library to add documents and information about Windermere, to share and learn. We ran regular meetings, presentations and training events, including riverfly training, priority habitats training and more, to arm people with the knowledge needed to support the local watercourses.

In August 23, SCRT ran a demo-day at Rydal, encouraging visitors to learn about the project, the issues Windermere faces and get involved with some activities. We carried out Electrofishing demonstrations, invertebrate sampling and moth trapping as well kids crafting activities.

In October 23, we met with representatives from Claife Parish Council, Lancaster University and local volunteers to develop a trial monitoring programme, which they wanted to start. They will focus on Wilfin Beck, sampling each month, with SCRT analysing the data on our Spectrophotometer. We continue to carry out this sampling and analysis for Total and Soluable Reactive Phosphorus, Ammonia and Nitrate and Nitrite, key nutrients to understanding water quality. This baseline data will provide a clearer understanding of if and what problems Wilfin beck has and then we will look to remedy them.

At our last meeting, we discussed a Langdale Action Pledge with a representative from Ambleside Action for a Future (AAFAF). SCRT has since developed documentation for roll out, which will invite local landowners, businesses and the farming community in the Langdale Valley to sign up for action to help support the environment. Actions range from river restoration to invasive species control and more. If you want more information about this, please get in touch.

Future?

In March 2024 our funding came to an end. However, we continue to support the two work streams mentioned above.

SCRT are the DEFRA appointed catchment hosts for the South Cumbrian Catchment Partnership. This programme has allowed us to learn about stakeholder engagement and how to better support the communities in this catchment area. This of course includes what we would do better!

Partnership working is one of our core principles and one that we continue to learn from. We are actively looking for funding to support this fantastic programme.