Wild Fell: Fighting for nature on a Lake District hill farm

Product Information

National Parks, Beauty & Riches. Guest blog for Mark Avery following the launch of UK National Parks in 100 Seconds film. markavery.info/12 Feb 2022 Wild Fell is not just an inspiring book about the rewilding of a hill farm but also one of the most clearly written books on general ecological and conservation principles – many light bulb moments occurred whilst reading it. As such, I bought it for a colleague who wants to learn more about ecology in general (and she loved it too). This is a book about rewilding and joins a growing list of good books on the subject which are essential reading for all those engaged in present-day UK nature conservation ( Feral, Wilding (my book of the year for 2018), Rebirding (one of my books of the year for 2019), Regeneration(one of my books of the year for 2021) and The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees (my book of the year for 2021)). Whilst there have been devastating clearances of trees and diversion of water courses which have affected fish, wildlife and plant numbers, the Lake District still boasts some of the rarest, pristine habitats in its inaccessible peaks.

Thank you Greta’: natural solutions to UK flooding climb the agenda. Interviewed as part of wider piece on natural flood management. The Guardian/April 2020

Latest

It was a tragic day for the nation's wildlife when England's last and loneliest golden eagle died in an unmarked spot among the remote eastern fells of the Lake District. But the fight to restore the landscape had already begun.

The abuse hurt but Lee didn’t give up on his Lakes dream. Interviewed for an article about the personal aspects of Wild Fell. The Daily Express/February 2022 One aspect of the book that particularly moved me was Schofield's account of how personally distressing his job can be sometimes, as farmers and others in the Lake District resist what he and the RSPB are trying to achieve. This kind of admission is something I rarely seem to read in books by male nature writers. Two years ago, Lee Schofield completed the manuscript of Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill Farm. The instant and award-winning classic charted his account of a decade working for the RSPB at Haweswater and the personal and professional challenges involved in working at the coal-face of nature conservation in the Lakeland uplands. In our wide-ranging keynote session, Countrystride producer Dave Felton will talk with Lee about progress at Haweswater since our podcast in March 2022. On a conversation covering landscape, people, politics, eagles... and watervoles, we'll ask how lessons learned at Haweswater might inform land management elsewhere in Cumbria. Questions from the floor are welcome. If he could chart his success by one thing it would be the widespread return of the globeflower. "I love it," he says. "It's part of the buttercup family and its lemon-yellow orbs appear sealed. Only one group of flies has worked out how to reach the nectar within.

Select a format:

Farmers have always done what society has asked of them," he says. "For the past 70 years, the demand has been to produce as much food as possible, particularly post-war. Their success has been extraordinary - a rise in productivity of 150 percent." One the joyful parts of this book are the names of the various plant species that I so easily overlook. I can’t even remember most of the names but Schofield reels them off in a way that is glorious – Alpine Catchfly, Sessile Oak, Devil’s Bit Scabious, Goldenrod, Wood Crane’s-Bill, Lesser Meadow-Rue, Yellow Mountain Saxifrage, Globeflower, Melancholy Thistle, Common Polypody, Bog Myrtle, Bedstraw, Tormentil. The sad part is that this diversity is all too sparse in an environment where it should be abundant. Reasoned, intelligent, compassionate, well-informed, this is a story of hope andrenewal for both nature and farming.’ Isabella Tree Wild Fell is a call to recognise that the solutions for a richer world lie at our feet; by focusing on flowers, we can rebuild landscapes fit to welcome the majestic golden eagle again.

Wild Fell is a call to recognise that the solutions for a richer world lie at our feet; by focusing on flowers, we can rebuild landscapes fit for eagles again. A landscape of flowers is a landscape of hope.

Most read

A passionate, haunting yet optimistic account of the battle to heal a damaged landscape and restore nature to a corner of the Lake District.” The rise of rooftop wildlife – living slices of landscape carpeted with grasses, moss and wildflowers. Interviewed for an article on green roofs, thanks to the one that tops our badger hide at Haweswater. inews/February 2021 Wild Felldocumentsa powerful journey through a bruised, beloved English landscape, expertly toldfrom Lee’s unique perspective. Sensitive,full of empathyand charged with a fierce, solution-based vision for a restorative, productive future alongside the natural world.I felt utterly compelled by his wise, deft prose, and am so grateful this book has been written. Aremarkabledebut.” The judges are drawn from the Richard Jefferies Society and their sponsors, the White Horse Bookshop, Marlborough who had the difficult choice of selecting an overall winner from a highly commendable shortlist of books: As the competing needs of agriculture and conservation jostle for ascendency, land management in Britain has reached a tipping point. Candid, raw and searingly honest, Lee Schofield offers a naturalist's perspective of the challenges unfolding in the ancient yet ever-changing landscape of Haweswater and shares with us his gloriously vibrant vision for the future. Katharine Norbury

TALK 1: Mark Hatton – Gravestones of Cumbria, from the Victorious Romans to the Romantic Victorians Thrown to the wolves. Final article in Shadow Species series focuses on the wolves of the Lake District. Cumbria Life/Feb 2021. Version also available as a WildHaweswater postI have to admit, at the start of the book, I thought "Flowers? Oh, I thought this was going to focus on other things..." Fortunately, Schofield swiftly corrected my assumptions that I might be a little bored. I found myself carried away with his passion for wildflowers, and their role as a springboard for entire ecosystems. Also, I seemed to spend as much time Googling the images of the flowers as I did reading about them!