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Where farming and nature meetThe plan for Geltsdale 2018–2023

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Forest Head Quarry

TindaleSpelterWorks

BruthwaiteForest

Black Burn

The Preserve

Clowsgill Farm

Tindale Fell

Tarnhouse Rigg

Geltsdale Farm

Tarnhouse Farm

Stagsike Cottages

Howgill Beck

Haltonlea Fell

Black Tortie

Cold Fell

Brown Fell

Old Water

New Water

Tottergill

Talkin Fell

Whinny FellHowgill

Clowsgill Beck

Setting the sceneRSPB Geltsdale is a remote and ruggedly beautiful nature reserve made up of two hill farms, Geltsdale and Tarnhouse, located in the north-west corner of the North Pennines.

At more than 19 square miles (50 square km) in size, extending from Cumbria into Northumberland, Geltsdale is one of Europe’s most special places for nature. It enjoys legal protection for both its habitats and wildlife.

It’s an undulating landscape: a patchwork of blanket bog, heath, grassland, meadows and woodland rising from 200m above sea level to 620m at Cold Fell.

These habitats are an important home to a range of threatened wildlife. In spring and summer, waders such as curlews and lapwings nest in the enclosed farmland, and male black grouse perform their lekking courtship ritual. Merlins and short-eared owls hunt over the moorland and male hen harriers can occasionally be seen skydancing overhead – their dramatic courtship ritual. In 2016, Geltsdale was the site of one of only three successful hen harrier nests in the whole of England. The site has a rich industrial history. Coal and mineral mining took place here for centuries. One of the first railways in the world ran across part of the reserve and Stephenson’s Rocket spent its twilight years in service here. Evidence of this past can still be seen around the reserve, particularly at Forest Head Quarry and Tindale Spelter Works, which are both Scheduled Monuments.

The RSPB has been working at Geltsdale for more than 40 years. Our involvement began in 1975 with a wardening agreement with the then estate owners, the Nicholson family, who had an interest in natural history. At that time seasonal contract staff monitored the wildlife on the reserve. We employed a permanent warden from 1980, and purchased the first land in 1990.

Major changes came in 1999 with the acquisition of the sporting rights (game shooting) for the whole reserve and then in 2001, with the purchase of Tarnhouse Farm. This led to the renovation of Stagsike Cottages and the opening of a visitor centre in 2007. We also created way-marked trails and a small car park for visitors.

For many years, the site was run as two large sheep farms, as well as managed as a grouse moor. Years of excessive sheep numbers and heather burning had damaged much of the site’s blanket bog and heath.

When we purchased Tarnhouse Farm we took on a tenant farmer who reduced sheep grazing and introduced cattle. Our current tenant, Ian Bell, has since expanded his farm business, increasing the area of cattle grazing at Tarnhouse Farm. Cattle are selective when they graze, and therefore create a varied patchwork of habitats, which benefits birds and other wildlife.

In 2009, the owners of Geltsdale Farm, the Weir Trust, and their tenant farmer removed sheep and introduced a cattle herd on the farm.

We’re managing the reserve for wildlife within the context of a commercial farm business, primarily by cattle grazing. Between 2004 and 2005, we created 230 hectares of new native woodland, planting 110,000 trees in the Bruthwaite Forest.

The reserve is an important site for research into upland habitat management and reversing the declines of threatened wildlife. We monitor key species and habitats, and carry out trials to test new conservation solutions for species such as curlew and ring ouzel. Our aim is to work with other farmers and land managers to increase the wildlife on their land.

Where farming and nature meetWhere farming and nature meet

Curlew by Steve Round (rspb-images.com)

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Our vision

Main plan objectives

Geltsdale will be one of the best sites for nature in the English uplands. The restored blanket bog and moorland edge will allow a wide range of wildlife to thrive. A sustainable hill farming system, with a flexible approach to cattle grazing, will create a greater variety of habitats.

We’ll continue to actively manage the site with targeted land management for threatened wildlife.

We’ll undertake legal and humane predator control where the threat to struggling wildlife is clear and there are no feasible alternatives.

At Geltsdale, we’ll innovate and trial new approaches to looking after wildlife and the places where they live. Threatened upland wildlife, such as black grouse, hen harriers, breeding wading birds, small pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies and bilberry bumble bees will enjoy a secure future here.

1. To continue restoring the 4,000ha blanket bog and managing other moorland habitats and key bird populations within a working farm environment.

2. To use sustainable farming to manage the 500ha of enclosed farmland and moorland edge habitats, in order to maintain and improve conditions for black grouse and breeding wading birds.

3. To create 94ha of new broadleaf woodland, and continue the management of the 230ha Bruthwaite pasture woodland, particularly to benefit black grouse.

4. To encourage hen harriers to breed on the reserve.

5. To continue ring ouzel trial management in Black Burn, and maintain the breeding population on the wider reserve.

Where farming and nature meet Where farming and nature meet

We’ll also continue to protect Geltsdale’s natural assets: its carbon stores, its capacity to provide clean water and to slow the flow of water and reduce downstream flood risk. As a result, the landscape will be more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

A rigorous monitoring programme, coupled with research projects and partnerships, will provide the evidence base to underpin our future management decisions. We hope this will make Geltsdale a leading example of effective wildlife conservation.

Geltsdale will remain a wild, remote and spectacular place. A place where visitors can explore and be inspired by the beauty of the landscape and the wildlife that thrives there.

6. To investigate and implement natural flood management work on Howgill/Tindale Beck and Clowsgill Beck.

7. To continue to use Geltsdale as an example of best practice for farming and managing land to benefit threatened habitats and wildlife, and providing public goods such as carbon stewardship and flood prevention.

8. To use the site for scientific research and for the basis for conversations with farmers and other land managers.

9. To build and retain support for our conservation work by maintaining, to RSPB standards, a low-key visitor and education site and an access point for the local area.

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Small pearl-bordered fritillary by Steve Garnett

Hen harrier by Mark Thomas (rspb-images.com)

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Habitats at GeltsdaleGeltsdale covers more than 5,000 hectares of land and contains a variety of upland habitats. Much of the higher ground is covered with a layer of peat up to 2.5m thick in places, which at lower altitudes gives way to a mix of upland heath, grassland, woodland (both ancient and recently planted native broadleaf) and enclosed pasture.

Blanket bog

Blanket bog is a globally scarce habitat that provides many benefits for both people and nature. A healthy bog can clean water, lock up climate change-causing carbon and help prevent flooding on lower ground by slowing the flow of water. It’s also home to a number of specialist plants such as sphagnum mosses, bog rosemary and the carnivorous round-leaved sundew.

Over the past 15 years, we’ve blocked more than 62 miles (100km) of moorland drains, and with a reduction in grazing and stopping heather burning, this has resulted in a significant increase in peat-forming sphagnum.

Many upland birds breed in this habitat including red grouse, golden plovers, curlews, merlins, short-eared owls, ring ouzels and hen harriers. In 2016 Geltsdale held one of only three successful hen harrier nests in the whole of England.

Woodland

Small areas of ancient woodland pasture are an important habitat for pied and spotted flycatchers, redstarts and

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woodcocks. We’ve extended this scarce and vital woodland with new native tree planting across an area of 230ha, covering the northern slopes of the reserve. We’ve planted a mix of deciduous species, dominated by birch, which gives way to oak and ash, with patches of scrub species such as hawthorn and hazel. These have provided an excellent food supply for black grouse and habitat for breeding whinchats. We’re planting more trees, and in the future hope to introduce some cattle and continue the ancient practice of grazing woodland pasture.

Enclosed farmland

Enclosed land comprises numerous fields, providing a mixture of upland heath, acid grassland, hay meadows and scrubland. This area is mainly grazed with cattle and in the spring is alive with the song of skylarks.

We cut a number of hay meadows in July to provide feed for wintering cattle. We’ve created scrapes (shallow depressions) and shallow pools in lower-lying meadows, providing insect food for wading birds such as lapwings and redshanks. In early summer, our wet grassland is rich with wild flowers attracting many kinds of insects, including hoverflies and bees. Areas of rush (a coarse wet plant) are home to snipe, grasshopper warblers and reed buntings. Small seed plots dotted across the reserve are planted with flowering pollinator crops and arable crops. These in turn provide food for seed-eating birds such as linnets and goldfinches.

Geltsdale Farm

Tarnhouse Farm

Stagsike Cottages

RSPB Geltsdale Reserve Habitat Map

blanket bog

dry heath

wet_mesotrophic_grassland

dry mesotrophic grassland

acid grassland

calcareous grassland

bracken

Geltsdale Farm

Tarn House Farm

Stagsike Cottages

RSPB Geltsdale Reserve Habitat Map

Blanket bog

Dry heath

Wet neutral grassland

Dry neutral grassland

Acid grassland

Calcareous grassland

Bracken

Flush spring pool

Blanket bog

Dry heath

Wet neutral grassland

Dry neutral grassland

Acid grassland

Calcareous grassland

Bracken

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History of monitoring at GeltsdaleMonitoring is an intrinsic part of our work at Geltsdale. It informs our management and allows us to follow the breeding success of key species on the reserve. We monitor our survey area annually for wading birds, upland passerines such as meadow pipits and redstarts, and grouse. This builds on our valuable ever-increasing dataset.

During July and August, we also carry out additional surveys for curlews to assess breeding success, and brood counts on moorland plots for red grouse.

Birds of prey are also closely monitored on the reserve, especially hen harriers, along with merlins and peregrines. If we are lucky enough to have a hen harrier nest, we run a 24-hour watch, undertaken by dedicated staff and volunteers.

Reserve staff work closely with RSPB conservation scientists to ensue that data collection and analyses are robust. A recent paper “Changes in upland bird abundances show associations with moorland management” was published in Bird Study, which assessed responses of breeding birds to management at Geltsdale over a 14 year period.

Where farming and nature meet Where farming and nature meet

Curlews

With their evocative call and elongated down-turned bill, curlews are one of our most distinctive upland birds. But over the past 20 years we’ve lost half of them in the UK. The main reason for this decline is low productivity so improving conditions on breeding grounds will be crucial for population recovery.

Geltsdale is part of the RSPB’s Curlew Trial Management Project, which is testing whether a combined package of habitat management and predator control is effective in improving curlew nesting success on a selected suite of sites. If these interventions are successful, future work will seek to ensure these are incorporated into wildlife-friendly farming schemes so they can be rolled out more widely across curlew breeding areas.

Ring ouzels

Ring ouzels migrate from North Africa to breed on our hills and moors every spring. However, this close relation to the blackbird is in long-term decline. In 2014 we started a project aimed at restoring ring ouzel numbers to their former levels. Our approach was to identify two valleys on the reserve, one containing stable breeding numbers of ring ouzels (control valley), and another where ring ouzel numbers have declined in recent years (treatment valley).

While we left the control valley unchanged, in 2015 we introduced 10 Exmoor ponies to the treatment valley to decrease the amount of bracken and increase short grass. This is an important foraging habitat for ring ouzels. Numbers have increased in the treatment valley from a single non-breeding male in 2014, to a non-breeding pair in 2015 and two breeding pairs in 2016.

Black grouse

Black grouse is another key species at the reserve and is monitored annually. This is carried out by counting males attending leks (courtship displays) from March to early May through a number of dawn co-ordinated counts by staff and volunteers.

As this is the easiest way to assess the population, lek counts can be used as an indicator of the previous year’s productivity. Black grouse are increasing on the reserve despite cold and wet Junes in recent years, which would have a huge impact on chick survival leading to low counts the following year.

Black grouse depend on a range of habitats across a small area to provide different food at different times of year. They like habitats that change gradually from one to another. However, our rural landscape has often become one of stark boundaries, with well defined forest edges and intensively managed enclosed farmland lying next to unenclosed moorland. To combat this, we’ve blurred the edges within the landscape through a reduction of sheep grazing and a move towards cattle grazing at certain times of year, which has proved to be a vital tool in creating good habitat for black grouse.R

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Graphs by Jen Selvidge

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Curlew territories oncorein-byesurveyareas

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ManagementMost of our habitat management will be on our landholding at Tarnhouse Farm. We’ll continue to work with the Weir Trust and Natural England on Geltsdale Farm, where we’ll undertake ongoing monitoring.

We’ll manage Tarnhouse Farm as a commercial hill farming business in partnership with our tenant. However, sheep and cattle grazing will be at sustainable levels to benefit the habitat and wildlife. There will not be any sheep on the lower moorland slopes, as sheep eat shrubs such as heather and bilberry, which are vital for wildlife. In contrast, blanket bog restoration benefits from light sheep grazing, so we’ll maintain this on the fell tops to reduce the amount of heather, which can prevent the growth of sphagnum moss. We will also work to restore the blanket bog through heather cutting. As an experimental control, the area of the reserve called “The Preserve” (413ha) will not be grazed or cut and the vegetation will be monitored.

We’ll increase cattle grazing on the lower fell slopes during summer months, where low level shrubs including heather and bilberry will be encouraged. During the winter, the cattle will use the new purpose-built cattle shed at Clowsgill, which houses over 100 stock. There will be light pony grazing all year round with 10 to 12 ponies over 240ha of the lower ground of Tindale Fell/Black Tortie to improve feeding and nesting habitat for curlews. In addition, we’ll create an experimental system of 50–100ha areas of heavy “mob” grazing for a period followed by a recovery period with no grazing.

There is potential to use an invisible fence system to focus grazing in small areas. This involves fitting cows with collars that respond to a hidden electric cable on the ground and eliminates the need for fencing. We will trial this in an area of the Bruthwaite woodland plantation west of Howgill. In this area an invisible fencing system can be trialled in order to contain the cattle in a specified area without the need for additional standard stock fencing. If successful this management will be subsequently used on 200ha of Tindale Fell and Black Tortie. This changing grazing system will benefit black grouse as it will create a varied habitat in a small area without the use of fences, which can increase mortality rates as the birds may fly into them.

Where farming and nature meet Where farming and nature meet.

We will implement the findings of the Curlew Trial Management Project, which is due to finish in 2020. This is likely to result in the continuation of active carrion crow and fox control to increase the productivity of key ground-nesting birds.

The enclosed farmland on the lower ground of the reserve will be managed in a Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship scheme, with a combination of cattle and sheep grazing, to benefit breeding curlews, lapwings, snipe, redshanks and black grouse.

As part of the Countryside Stewardship nature-friendly farming scheme, we will create new, and maintain existing, scrapes (shallow depressions that fill up with water for part of the year) to provide insect food for breeding wading birds.

To maintain a range of vegetation, our tenant farmer will cut 15–20ha of rush – a coarse wet plant – every year. On large areas of rush, such as Tarnhouse Rigg, we will trial weed wiping – a targeted form of herbicide spraying – in specified areas of one hectare. This will enable us to assess its effectiveness and monitor the new vegetation growth.

There is sufficient habitat for several pairs of hen harrier, however illegal killing of these birds is limiting the national population. Our overarching management will continue to provide good nesting and foraging habitat and we’ll continue to monitor and protect nesting harriers on the reserve.

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“Working with the RSPB is a pleasure. The nature-friendly farming system at Tarnhouse Farm reduces my costs and produces good-quality beef and lamb.”Ian Bell, tenant farmer, Tarnhouse Farm

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RSPB Geltsdale

Stagsike CottagesNr HallbankgateBramptonCumbriaCA8 2PW

01697 746717geltsdale@rspb.org.uk

Front and back cover images by Ian Ryding. The RSPB is a registered charity in England & Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654. GLE-0237-17-18.