The farmers’ FRIEND

Lee Schofield, an ecologist, is site manager for RSPB Haweswater, 30 square kilometres of woodland, moorland and mountain in the Lake District, where nature conservation and farming are being integrated. Rewilding enthusiasts are often branded as foes of farming, but Lee hopes to prove the two can go together. For the past decade, working in partnership with landowner United Utilities, he and his colleagues have been encouraging traditional mixed farming on the land, with Belted Galloway cattle eating the rough grass, allowing delicate blooms such as heathspotted orchids and devil’s-bit scabious to grow. “We’re increasingly thinking of our livestock as conservationists rather than just meat on legs,” Lee says. Sheep are kept here, too, but to prevent overgrazing, numbers have been reduced, giving much of the land a rest, resulting in a burst of wild flowers along with the great wealth of insects and birds that depend on them.

Swindale Beck, which runs through the reserve, has also been ‘rewilded’. The river was straightened 200 years ago to stop hay meadows flooding. Lee and his team have created a new course, snaking through the valley, with newly formed shallows that make salmon breeding grounds.

It is hoped that golden eagles – which became nationally extinct here in 2015

– will soar again soon, too.

Wild Fell by Lee Schofield (Doubleday, £ 20) is out now. To explore the area, go to wildhaweswater.co.uk.

“We’re increasingly thinking of our livestock as conservationists rather than just meat on legs”