Cumbria Wildlife Trust announces the purchase of England's highest nature reserve

Cumbria Wildlife Trust has announced that its purchase of Skiddaw Forest is now complete. The wildlife charity called this landmark a huge win for nature and wildlife, making Skiddaw the highest nature reserve in England.

In a six-week fundraising campaign, £1.25m was raised by the public, in support of Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s 100-year vision for the site.

Prior to the fundraising campaign, the wildlife charity had already secured £5 million, thanks to a long-term partnership between The Wildlife Trusts and Aviva, and additional support from charitable funders.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust can now start planning and carrying out the restoration of the site. This will include bringing back 620 acres of lost Atlantic Rainforest to the lower slopes of Skiddaw Forest. In addition, over 2,200 acres of other habitat will be restored including montane scrub, wildflower grassland, heather moorland and 992 acres of peatbogs.

Stephen Trotter, CEO of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, says: "We’ve reached another important landmark in the story of Skiddaw Forest: our purchase has formally completed. This is wonderful news, as we begin the important work of restoring this iconic site in the northern Lake District Fells.

"We’re starting by carrying out in-depth, baseline surveys across the site, from small mammals such as otters, weasels and stoats, to the so-called ‘lower plants’ such as bryophytes, lichens and liverworts, which play a vital role in the ecosystem. In addition, we’ll survey water quality and flow rates, and check the depth and erosion of the peatland. So the exciting work is already getting underway, in this long-term project which will come to maturity in the coming decades and well into the next century.

"We’re extremely grateful to Aviva and our other funders, and to the over 7,000 members of the public who donated to the purchase of Skiddaw Forest, enabling us to take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore nature on a truly landscape scale. Thank you so much to all of you and we look forward to working with our many local partners, farmers, volunteers and others to make this vision a reality that everyone will enjoy for generations to come.”

Fundraising continues for the restoration work on the site. The charity’s vision is to create a mosaic of healthy, resilient and revitalised mountain habitats. The 620 acres of temperate rainforest will be created with native trees that are adapted to live in an upland landscape. Due to the altitude of planting, the trees will be low-growing and fit sympathetically with the aesthetics of the landscape.