[Diggers350] Zero Carbon Cowboys: Nestlé and the National Trust playing at land management in Cumbria

Thu Feb 20 01:27:54 GMT 2025

Zero Carbon Cowboys: Rewilding row after National 
Trust Cumbria ploughs over irreplaceable
fungi and rare plant habitat
https://tlio.org.uk/zero-carbon-cowboys-rewilding-row-after-national-trust-cumbria-ploughs-over-irreplaceable-fungi-and-rare-plant-habitat/ 

<https://tlio.org.uk/zero-carbon-cowboys-rewilding-row-after-national-trust-cumbria-ploughs-over-irreplaceable-fungi-and-rare-plant-habitat/>20 
February 2025 
<https://tlio.org.uk/author/tony/>Tony Gosling 
<https://tlio.org.uk/zero-carbon-cowboys-rewilding-row-after-national-trust-cumbria-ploughs-over-irreplaceable-fungi-and-rare-plant-habitat/#respond>Leave 
a comment

Rewilding row after National Trust ploughs over irreplaceable waxcap fungi

Botanists said the work had destroyed a habitat that had taken decades to form

<https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2021/04/20/rewilding-row-national-trust-ploughs-irreplaceable-waxcap-fungi/>Environment 
Correspondent Olivia Rudgard  20 April 2021

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2021/04/20/rewilding-row-national-trust-ploughs-irreplaceable-waxcap-fungi/

Emacs!

The grassland, now ploughed-over

The National Trusts attempt to rewild a meadow 
in Cumbria has backfired after ploughing 
destroyed irreplaceable waxcap mushrooms.

Botanists accused the charity of cowboy 
conservation after the grassland near 
Cockermouth in the north west of the Lake 
District was ploughed over in an attempt to create a wildflower meadow.

Waxcaps are brightly-coloured mushrooms which 
grow on undisturbed ground, but they are 
increasingly under threat from intensive farming.

Rob Dixon, a botanist and conservation ecologist, 
who first noticed the incident and had spotted 
the fungi there in the autumn, said he had 
reported it to Natural England as a possible 
breach of regulations limiting changes to rural 
land. The government agency is investigating.

Theres so much guidance out there about meadow 
restoration and grassland restoration, and this 
just flies in the face of all of it, he said.

The only term I can come up with thats adequate 
is a sort of cowboy conservation. Obviously no 
clue about what theyre doing whatsoever.

On Twitter the National Trusts North Lakes 
ranger team defended the change, stating that the 
soil had low nutrient value.

It is part of a planned work to create ~3 acres 
of hay meadow, providing a rich and varied 
habitat for hundreds of species, the tweet said.

Waxcap mushrooms only grow on grasslands that 
have been left undisturbed for long periods, 
making them an indicator of ancient, 
nutrient-poor land that has not been used for farming.

Adding nutrients to soil in the form of 
fertiliser is often done by farmers looking to 
use it for crops, but nutrient-poor land is 
ecologically valuable because of the native 
plants and fungi it can support. Once ploughed 
away the fungi is unlikely to recover, experts said.

TWEET THE NATIONAL TRUST DELETED:
<https://twitter.com/NTNorthLakes/status/1384462174416867329>Thank 
you for sharing this with us. Were working 
closely with the farmer at Shepherds Field on the 
Dunthwaite estate to manage the land in a 
sustainable, nature-friendly way. The area of 
land pictured which has been sub-soiled had low nutrient value
 NT North Lakes (@NTNorthLakes) April 20, 2021

Botanist Joshua Styles, founder of the North-West 
Rare Plant Initiative, said: Waxcap grasslands 
take decades to establish. And grasslands that 
waxcaps grow in are really low-nutrient and unimproved.

The National Trust has done away with this 
incredibly important habitat thats taken decades 
and decades and decades to establish.

As well as waxcaps, such grasslands can also be 
home to native plants such as sheeps fescue, 
heath bedstraw, small cudweed and heath cudweed, now endangered in England.

A National Trust spokesman said: We are aware of 
concerns over a field that has been ploughed near 
Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria, and we are currently 
looking into how this may have happened.

The National Trust is committed to nature 
friendly farming and work alongside tenants to 
tackle the biodiversity crisis while ensuring 
land delivers for nature and farmers.

A Natural England spokesperson said: We are 
aware of reports and are investigating possible 
damage to semi-natural grassland near the River Derwent.

We are unable to comment further at this stage.

Zero Carbon Cowboys: Nestlé farm to rip up 
saplings after eco-drive planting wrecks Cumbria wild flower meadow

https://tlio.org.uk/zero-carbon-cowboys-nestle-farm-to-rip-up-saplings-after-eco-drive-planting-wrecks-cumbria-wild-flower-meadow/

<https://tlio.org.uk/zero-carbon-cowboys-nestle-farm-to-rip-up-saplings-after-eco-drive-planting-wrecks-cumbria-wild-flower-meadow/>20 
February 2025 
<https://tlio.org.uk/author/tony/>Tony 
Gosling<https://tlio.org.uk/zero-carbon-cowboys-nestle-farm-to-rip-up-saplings-after-eco-drive-planting-wrecks-cumbria-wild-flower-meadow/#respond>Leave 
a comment

Conservationists said field of rare flowers was 
latest victim of overly simple approach to climate change

<https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/19/nestle-forced-apologise-rip-trees-planted-part-eco-drive-destroyed>Helena 
Horton  19 February 2020

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/19/nestle-forced-apologise-rip-trees-planted-part-eco-drive-destroyed

Nestlé has apologised and ripped up saplings 
planted in an eco drive at one of its partner 
farms after the planting destroyed a meadow filled with rare wild flowers.

<https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/19/nestle-forced-apologise-rip-trees-planted-part-eco-drive-destroyed>
[]

This was once a meadow filled with rare wild 
flowers, but is now full of plastic-encased saplings Credit: Wild Lakeland

Planting trees has become a popular way for farms 
and companies to carbon offset as businesses are 
urged to move towards being net zero, or carbon neutral.

But the dairy farm in Cumbria has been criticised 
by conservation charities after digging up a 
meadow that had been filled with Butterfly 
Orchids, Betony, Scabious, Restharrow and 
Harebell to make way for plastic-covered saplings.

Local conservation ecologist Rob Dixon, who 
noticed that trees had been planted in the meadow 
at Gateshaw Mill Farm, told The Telegraph: 
Wildflower rich grasslands are a increasingly 
rare and extremely valuable habitat that rely on 
active management, such as livestock grazing, to keep them diverse and healthy.

Tree planting is highly unsuitable on areas of 
wild flower rich grassland as the change in 
management and eventual shade will lead to the 
extinction of the wild flowers at expense of a 
few coarse, shade-tolerant plant species.

There will be a huge knock-on effect on the 
bees, butterflies and vast array of wildlife that is dependent on the habitat.

<https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/19/nestle-forced-apologise-rip-trees-planted-part-eco-drive-destroyed>
[]

What the meadow looked like in full bloom

Conservation charity Plantlife said the practice 
of planting woodlands was widespread and 
businesses needed to exercise caution when doing it.

Dr Trevor Dines, the organisations botanical 
specialist, said: This ancient Cumbrian 
grassland, with its abundance of rare flowers, 
has become the latest victim of an overly simple 
approach to climate change. In the understandable 
rush to plant trees, we risk sacrificing some of 
our most wildlife-rich habitats.

While popular opinion suggests planting trees is 
one of the best ways to save the planet, meadows 
can actually store more carbon.

Dr Dines called this plant blindness, 
explaining: Grassland soils have the highest 
carbon stock of any habitat in Britain and  with 
around 70-100 species of plants growing in a 
single field, and three million individual 
flowers per hectare in summer  are unrivalled crucibles of biodiversity.

This is a classic case of plant blindness  its 
just a grassy field, right? Within the next two 
to three years, the orchids, betony and harebells 
will disappear from this corner of Cumbria as the 
canopy closes over and the sunlight recedes.

Species-rich meadows and grasslands now occupy 
just one per cent of our land area. The terrible 
irony is that the inevitable disappearance of the 
flowers, insects and other dependent wildlife has 
been done in the name of the environment.

Dr Dines added that ancient meadows needed the 
same level of protection as ancient woodland.

A spokeswoman for Nestlé said the farm would be 
removing the trees and trying to restore the meadow.

As part of our partnership with First Milk, 
Nestlés milk supplier, we support a long running 
sustainability programme to empower and support 
Cumbrian dairy farmers to play a vital role in 
the sustainable stewardship of agricultural land, she said.

The programme of landscape management, of which 
tree planting is just one element, also looks to 
improve watercourse management, enhance 
biodiversity, improve soil quality, increase 
climate change resilience and reduce carbon emissions.

We were alerted to the tree planting at Gateshaw 
Mill recently, which was carried out with the 
best intentions. We are working with the farm, 
the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and the 
Woodland Trust to rectify the mistake and restore 
the meadow without any lasting damage being caused.
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