Join the Green Lancaster team on an ECOWild practical field trip to Garsdale Pike and contribute to a fantastic project enhancing biodiversity in Cumbria.    

As part of this field excursion, we will join Conservation Explorer and Land Custodian Rosey Grandage from Wild Garsdale Pike. WGP is a youth-led environmental project that aims to regenerate biodiversity and ecosystems, enable young people to take a lead role, and monitor change in biodiversity and land use.  

We will spend the day in Garsdale, where we will carry out surveys of birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects, and peat depth. These surveys will help the project understand the current health of the land and respond accordingly and help the ecosystem thrive. 

We will measure the depth of peat in different areas across the land to monitor the damaging impact of drainage ditches (grips) that were put in in the 1960s to mid-1980s to dry out peatland. From previous monitoring, it has been observed that away from the grips the depth is over a metre, while close them it can drop to 400mm. When dry, peatlands release carbon instead of storing it and become desolate habitats. Restoring our peat bogs and ensuring that are once again saturated with water is therefore crucial to ensure carbon storage and thriving environments for a number of plant species such as sphagnum moss, bog asphodel, cloudberry, bog orchid and sundew, as well as moorland birds.  

All volunteers joining this field trip will need to bring suitable outdoor clothing (warm and waterproof clothing and/or sun protective clothing), sturdy footwear such as hiking boots, as well as a packed lunch and warm/cold drink. It will be possible to borrow equipment from Green Lancaster if necessary.   

Please note this activity will entail hiking up very steep and wet terrain to the top of Garsdale Pike and thereby requires a good level of fitness. Please contact the Green Lancaster team on green@lancaster.ac.uk if you have any questions related to accessibility requirements.   

Full details will be circulated by e-mail to all registered volunteers during the week commencing 29th May.   

Our field trips are a real opportunity and privilege to experience the great outdoors and contribute to significant projects across the country that tackle the climate and ecological emergencies. If you have booked a place but are no longer able to attend, please cancel your ticket to enable someone else to benefit from this opportunity. Thank you.