Campaigners are fighting to stop a water company putting up a fence across common land in the Lake District. The Friends of the Lake District and the Open Spaces Society have condemned plans to fence off an area on fells near Thirlmere.
United Utilities said it wants to erect the fencing on common land at the south-western end of the reservoir, around Whelpside, Steel End, West Head, Armboth, Bleaberry and Wythburn Fells. The area enclosed would be 866ha (2,140 acres). They are concerned about an upward trend in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) – this makes the water browner and costs the company to treat it. It is caused by degraded peat and other organic material being washed from eroded and overgrazed land. The fence would allow a reduction in stock grazing which would help reduce erosion and the amount of peat and organic matter in watercourses.
However, data is only collected for the whole catchment at two locations and so there is no specific data on water quality for each tributary stream, or on the effect of each soil and habitat type on water quality. The sources of dissolved organic carbon within the catchment are therefore not well known. Schemes have already been implemented in the catchment that will have a positive impact on water quality in Thirlmere, such as woodland planting and stock reduction, but it will be many years before the effects of these schemes are known and if more work elsewhere is needed.
For centuries this common land has been managed by communal management whereby hill farmers with common grazing rights manage the fell together, gathering the hefted sheep on the same day and meet once or twice a year to exchange stray sheep. The erection of boundary fences is a significant step in breaking down this communal management and hefting. Hefting allows different farmers in an extensive landscape such as moorland to graze different areas without the need for fences, each ewe remaining on her particular area. Lambs usually learn their heft from their mothers and once it is gone, it is unlikely to be reinstated.
For more information see Friends of the Lake District website
