18 December 2023
I’m delighted to report that 7000 young people connected with nature and had a taste of a career in conservation thanks to a Green Recovery project at Brockhole. It's also given important wildlife at the Lake District National Park Authority’s Visitor Centre a boost.
Project highlights include 15 trainees gaining skills and experience for a career in the outdoors, with the help of The Ernest Cook Trust and Oaklea Trust.
A further 2,634 young people spent a day exploring and restoring nature at Brockhole. And, for 5,113 young people, it was their classroom as part of an informal learning programme.
Visitors also discovered why the wildlife at Brockhole is so special. They can now see inside a beehive, one of several that support the Visitor Centre's bee colony. And at 22 points around the site, information panels give details of the habitats and the wildlife that lives within them.
Brockhole's 30-acre grounds are home to lots of different habitats. They include eight of the UK’s most threatened - ancient and wet woodland, rush pasture, the lake shoreline, a pond, and a traditional orchard. Specialist staff worked to restore these and created two new ponds and traditional orchards.
This has been a great project that’s focussed our minds on the valuable habitats here. We’ve been able to restore, expand and explain to people why they’re special. We are particularly pleased to have involved so many young people, including aspiring environmentalists and nature lovers from under-represented backgrounds.
The project legacy also means we have more resources to help us engage young people with our amazing habitats. We also have specialist equipment to help us manage these habitats better now and in the future.
The project was possible due to a £250,000 grant from the Government’s second Green Recovery Challenge Fund and was set up to promote green jobs and nature recovery at Brockhole. The project ran between August 2021 and finished in summer this year.
We’re looking forward to seeing what next year will bring for more learning opportunities.
Staff Blogger
Lake District National Park Learning and Engagement Manager
