Our Latest News

The work around buffer strips is continuing with volunteers recently undergoing some training with Butterfly Conservation and the Becks to Bay Partnership to carry out basic wildlife surveys. The aim of buffer strips is to protect and enhance becks and riparian habitats but we want to check that they do this. We now have a small team of trained volunteers carrying out surveys at 5 sites across the catchment and results are already coming in! Geoff & Lorna Cooper took…

Come and join us for the first river dipping session of the year on Wednesday 10th April. We’ll be at the Green, Spark Bridge between 10.30am and 12noon with all the equipment you’ll need and some knowledgeable volunteers to help discover some amazing freshwater minibeasts. Bring wellies and dress for the weather, all children must be accompanied by an adult. No booking required. In the event of adverse weather, the event will be cancelled.

Fourteen new homes were made at the second Nest Box Workshop, bringing this year’s total to 38. Around half of these will be put up in the small pockets of woodlands along the River Crake, providing additional nest sites for a variety of birds including great tits, nuthatches, tree sparrow, pied and spotted flycatchers. We’ll be monitoring the nest boxes over the coming months to see if there are signs of occupancy. We’ll also be putting up a small number…

Another opportunity to make a nest box for the project! As the first workshop was so popular we’ve decided to run a second one on Saturday 2nd March at Greenodd Village Hall. Drop in between 10am and 11.30am. 

February has turned out to be a very busy month indeed. We started with a walk to celebrate World Wetlands Day and look at some of the conservation work carried out at Doll Moss, the first groups for the Septic Tank Emptying Scheme have been established in three communities and 21 nest boxes for a variety of birds were made at the community nest box workshop. For further details see the latest blog https://ccc.scrt.co.uk/blog/fantastic-february/  

We’re pleased to announce our first events of 2019 and a call for volunteers to help us plant 200+ trees over the next few weeks.  Blawith Common & Beacon Tarn Walk on 2nd February, staring at 10am. The walk heads to the Beacon via the tarn then back down through to Sliving Moss. For more details see the events section https://ccc.scrt.co.uk/events/wetlands-day-walk/ Nest Box Workshop on 16th February at the Village Hall, Greenodd. Drop in between 10am and 2.30pm to make a…

2018 started with our best feet forward on a walk in early February to celebrate World Wetlands Day, as there are some of these important but diminishing habitats within the catchment. This was followed up with the building of over twenty new homes for birds and bats at a community drop-in workshop and with students from John Ruskin High School. In the mean time work was also underway to open up some buried becks with de-culverting work and fencing was…

In December around 360 willow whips/rods were planted along the River Crake at Penny Bridge over two sessions, firstly with volunteers and then with 18 Year 6 children from Penny Bridge Academy.   The rods were cut from two existing willow trees, snipped into 40-50cm lengths and pushed into the ground. The trees will help to stabilise the river banks, add shade to cool the water in summer and provide additional habitats for birds and invertebrates. Nest boxes, made by…

Two redd spotting training sessions have taken place recently to help us map where salmon and trout spawning sites are. Wearing cool sunglasses in November volunteers eventually began to “get their eye in” in learning how to spot a redd – the spawning scrape made by salmon and trout. This survey work will help direct future some conservation work. Learn more about the volunteer sessions https://ccc.scrt.co.uk/redds-in-the-beds/   

The recent Coniston and Crake Catchment Partnership Review Night was a great success. Supporters and volunteers heard about the work of the Conserving Coniston & Crake project from Mike and Kath, including 8556 metres of fencing already installed/agreed, 480 metres of watercourses de-culverted, tree planting, activities with 200 students and teachers from John Ruskin HS & Penny Bridge Academy, volunteers contributing 180 days of work and  of 10 events involving over 320 adults and children. Three volunteers also gave brilliant…