Open Country

Ian Marchant talks to people involved in re-imagining the landscape and culture of the Lake District, with lines both sinuous and straight. Lee Schofield of the RSPB has been part of a project to re-meander Swindale Beck, which had become canal-like after years of 'improvement'. Lee is used to the fruits of conservation work taking years, but this time, the results were virtually instantaneous. The team finished work one Friday when it started raining. A flash flood over the weekend brought calls from the onsite supervisor, afraid of disaster: the whole valley was flooded. Lee arrived back on Monday morning to find the river had become a gentle, naturally sinuous stream, with shallow gravel pools for the salmon to use as spawning grounds. The hay meadows on either bank no longer fill with stagnant standing water, and sand and stones don't get washed downstream. Jim Bliss is the Conservation Manager of Lowther Estates and he is just beginning the estate's journey into ecological restoration, taking up fe