Ennerdale, Cumbria
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Ennerdale is a valley in
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
(in the former historic county of
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
), England. Ennerdale Water, fed by the River Liza, is the most westerly lake in the
Lake District National Park The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
. Due to the remote location, the lack of a public road up the valley, and its management by
Forestry England Forestry England is a division of the Forestry Commission, responsible for managing and promoting publicly owned forests in England. Forest Enterprise, the precursor to Forestry England, was originally formed as a Great Britain-wide organizati ...
, the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
and
United Utilities United Utilities Group plc (UU) is the United Kingdom's largest listed water company. It was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West En ...
, Ennerdale is relatively unspoiled. Ennerdale Water has not been as affected as other lakes in the National Park by construction, activity on the lake or the trappings of tourism. In 2022 the partners managing Ennerdale, together with
Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
, put together a successful proposal to declare much of the Ennerdale Valley as a National Nature Reserve (NNR).


Environmental protection

There are two biological
Sites of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
(SSSIs) in the valley: * Ennerdale * Pillar and Ennerdale Fells SSSI. Pillar and Ennerdale Fells is also protected as a
Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...
, being one of the ten SSSIs which underpin the High Fells SAC.


Rewilding

In 2003 the valley's three major landowners formed the Wild Ennerdale Partnership. Working with
Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
, the Government's advisor on the environment, the project has a vision "to allow the evolution of Ennerdale as a wild valley for the benefit of people, relying more on natural processes to shape its landscape and ecology". The project managers have a commitment to maintaining the economic culture of the valley with small-scale forestry work and farming (low-density cattle grazing is replacing sheep). Wild Ennerdale celebrated its 10th anniversary in June 2013. In October of that year the project was represented at the World Wilderness Congress in
Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...
, Spain. Results of the project included: *
Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic. Distribution and habitat It Spaw ...
(''Salvelinus alpinus)'' An increase in numbers of this species. The fish spawn in the River Liza, and have benefited from the rewilding of the river. * Natural woodland. The habitats protected by Pillar and Ennerdale Fells SSSI include natural woodland such as Side Wood, an example of old sessile oak woods. The trees of Ennerdale are important as an example of altitudinal succession (from "native upland birch-oak woodland at 120 m on the shores of Ennerdale (Water) the vegetation changes through sub-montane heaths and grasslands to montane heaths along the summit ridge at an altitude of 890 m"). The condition of the SSSI's habitats has been assessed as "Unfavourable - Recovering".Pillar and Ennerdale Fells SSSI
Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
.
As a result of the Wild Ennerdale project, there has been a blurring of the divisions between the wooded and non-wooded areas in the valley, although there is arguably not a natural
tree line The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...
as such. (A natural tree line occurs in only a few places in the British uplands such as Creag Fhiaclach in the
Cairngorms The Cairngorms () are a mountain range in the eastern Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national parks of Scotland, national park (the Cairn ...
: in the Lake District the climatic tree line is estimated to lie at about 535 m).


Possible introduction of predators

In 2013
George Monbiot George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is an English journalist, author, and Environmental movement, environmental and political activist. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and has written several books. Monbiot ...
published ''Feral'', a book on
rewilding Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration aimed at increasing biodiversity and restoring natural processes. It differs from other forms of ecological restoration in that rewilding aspires to reduce human influence on ecosystems. It is also d ...
, in which he argued that Ennerdale is not very wild in comparison with projects in other countries. He draws attention to the lack of predators in the valley to control the numbers of grazing animals such as deer. In this interpretation, rewilding implies the presence of carnivores to reduce herbivore pressure and enhance
trophic Trophic, from Ancient Greek τροφικός (''trophikos'') "pertaining to food or nourishment", may refer to: * Trophic cascade * Trophic coherence * Trophic egg * Trophic function * Trophic hormone * Trophic level index * Trophic level * ...
diversity. In March 2015, the Lynx UK Trust announced that Ennerdale was one of three locations in England and Scotland where it wanted to trial the reintroduction of wild
Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is one of the four wikt:extant, extant species within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. It is widely distributed from Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe to Cent ...
(a species which preys on deer). However, by 2017 the Trust was proposing
Kielder Forest Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its covered by forest. The majority o ...
as the preferred site for such a trial. So far as is known, there are no resident
pine marten The European pine marten (''Martes martes''), also known as the pine marten, is a mustelid native to and widespread in most of Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and parts of Iran, Iraq, and Syria. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red Lis ...
s in Ennerdale, but there is evidence that the species is present in Cumbria. There are discussions about its reintroduction to the valley and breeding boxes have been installed.


Governance

Ennerdale is within the Whitehaven and Workington UK parliamentary constituency.


Tourism

The valley is not much visited by tourists, but it is of interest to walkers and is sited on the " Coast to Coast Walk" devised by
Alfred Wainwright Alfred Wainwright Order of the British Empire, MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalking, fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume ''Pictorial ...
.


Youth hostels

Ennerdale has two youth hostels, Ennerdale and Black Sail. Black Sail (high up the valley near Black Sail Pass), has been described as England's loneliest youth hostel. In 2008 the Youth Hostels Association announced that it would withdraw the warden from Black Sail as Forestry England would no longer maintain the access track as a result of the Ennerdale rewilding project. However, after protests from members the YHA decided to retain the warden service, while at the same time seeking to reduce the hostel's ecological impact. Low Gillerthwaite Field Centre, which is situated a few hundred metres from Ennerdale Youth Hostel, is adapted from traditional lakeland 17th century farm buildings and offers self-catering accommodation for up to 40 people. It is suitable for use by both groups of young people and adults. The centre is managed by a registered charity.


Geology

Bowness Knott is a geological
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
(SSSI).


Proposed nuclear waste facility

In June 2012, it became clear that Ennerdale (specifically the Ennerdale granite to the south of Ennerdale Water) had been identified as a potential site for a Geological Disposal Facility for the UK's high and intermediate level nuclear waste. Two other sites had also been identified – Eskdale and the Solway Plain. Ennerdale was not named by the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership; rather it referred to the 'granitic rocks forming part of the Lake District Batholith'. These are the Ennerdale and Eskdale granites, formed around 450 million years ago in the
Ordovician Period The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period Ma (mill ...
. This was stated in (publicly available) document 285 of the West Cumbria MRWS, a letter written by Dr Dearlove, the consultant geologist recruited by MRWS. Three smaller surface exposures of the batholith occur at Shap, Threlkeld and Skiddaw, but these are too small to be considered for the Geological Disposal Facility. In January 2013, Copeland and Allerdale Borough Councils voted to proceed to the next stage (4) of the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) process, but this was vetoed by Cumbria County Council. In September 2013, The
Department of Energy and Climate Change The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the government of the United Kingdom created on 3 October 2008, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the ...
(DECC) announced its proposed changes to the MRWS siting process. These included removal of the right of veto from county councils, and a diluted role for parish councils.


References


External links


Wild Ennerdale website

Wildness reclaims the Ennerdale valley
(theguardian.com) *Low Gillerthwaite Field Centre (LGFC) http://www.lgfc.org.uk/ {{coord missing, Cumbria National nature reserves in England Valleys of Cumbria Rewilding in the United Kingdom Environmentalism in England