Working for an outstanding landscape rich in wildlife and cultural heritage

The Cove at Silverdale

Conserving and enhancing the landscape is the core of our work. We work at a strategic level to ensure the right policies are in place to conserve the area and its special qualities. We work in partnership to develop, support and carry out projects which benefit this area.  

In particular, the AONB Team provides expertise in environmental and countryside management, carrying out conservation work and providing advice and support to landowners and managers.

We undertake practical conservation management at key sites across the AONB, such as the Local Nature Reserves at Warton Crag and Trowbarrow linking to the work of partner organisations. We host training and good practice sharing days to facilitate positive environmental management on a diverse range of habitats and sites.

Scotch Argus Butterfly

Key Achievements in 2010/11:

• We made a real difference across the landscape by completing conservation management work, such as hedge restoration, woodland and grassland management on over 25 key sites in the AONB, linking to the work of partner organisations.
• We carried out ongoing management work at both the Local Nature Reserves in the area, completing scrub clearance, grassland management, dry stone wallling, monitoring, fencing and wardening
• Conservation management on Warton Crag Site of Special Scientific Interest has secured its status of being in 'favourable condition'
• We have provided advice and ongoing practical support on land management to many different and diverse groups notably

  Silverdale Golf Club AONB Landscape Trust John Barnes Memorial Trust AONB Parish Councils The Woodland Trust

• We organised and co-ordinated over 1000 days of volunteer effort – that’s worth over £50,000. Volunteers carried out a wide range of tasks and included both specialist and straightforward jobs including:

hedgerow species surveys butterfly transects practical conservation management tasks monthly litter picks car parking surveys

• To facilitate this significant community involvement the AONB Countryside Officer organised meetings, training and mentoring such as butterfly surveyors pre-season briefings, first aid training, rural skills events and Local Nature Reserve Advisory Committees
• We worked in partnership to develop the Morecambe Bay climate change adaptation strategy, which has led to the development by the AONB Team of the AONB Low Carbon Landscape Initiative. We supported the publication of renewable energy advice leaflets by the Bittern Countryside Community Ineterest Company.
• We supported and actively participated in the Morecambe Bay Wildlife Network, working to connect wildlife habitats across a wider area, with the aim of meeting biodiversity targets and ensuring increased resilience to climate change. This area of work is becoming ever more important and is the focus of a number of recommendations in the new Government Natural Environment White Paper
• Through our Sustainable Development Fund we co-funded and supported Butterfly Conservation UK’s High Brown Fritillary project to enable practical management for butterflies within the AONB. The limestone hills around Morecambe Bay are a national stronghold for this rare species and the AONB is a key focus area for their recovery.
• We supported and part-funded the Morecambe Bay conservation grazing scheme through our Sustainable Development Fund making an apprenticeship and transition project possible. The grazing scheme is essential for managing the species rich limestone grasslands of the AONB.
• We supported Lancaster Beekeepers in setting up a training facility and apiary to breed local bee strains that are resistant to disease and colony failure, again providing funding through our Sustainable Development Fund - see below for more details.
• Over the course of the year we reviewed over 100 planning applications in the AONB and submitted comments on all those that were likely to have landscape or environmental impacts both within and around the AONB.
• We participated in the South Lakeland District Council land allocations consultation, using our local knowledge and landscape expertise to provide the District Council with advice on the issues around identified sites.
• We worked with Land Use Consultants to finalise the AONB Landscape Character Assessment.
• We continued our involvement with Electricity North West Ltd and other partners on delivery of the Protected Landscapes undergrounding scheme, identifying a further electricity distribution line for undergrounding to improve visual amenity at an important site within the AONB.

Working for a thriving sustainable economy and vibrant communities

We believe our exceptionally high quality environment underpins the local economy and the vibrancy of our communities. The AONB Team works at both a strategic and local level with local authorities, businesses, community groups and residents to support the growth of a low carbon economy and maximise community involvement and benefit.

In particular the AONB Team has a well developed local support role, both through providing grants from our Sustainable Development Fund, providing advice to community groups and businesses and developing projects which will benefit the area. Put simply, we work in partnership to get great things done for the area and its communities.

Study Group on Warton Crag

Key Achievements in 2010/11:

We have worked in partnership to develop and deliver a range of community-led projects through our Sustainable Development Fund.

	Lancaster Beekeepers - Honey Bee Conservation Project Phase 2 This was the second year of a project which saw the creation of a honey bee apiary in Yealand Conyers to provide enhanced practical training to new and existing beekeepers train beekeepers to become trainers in beekeeping breed and supply stocks of bees of gentle temperament, well suited to local conditions provide non-beekeepers with an insight into beekeeping. Phase 1 involved practical works to make the site accessible. Phase 2 saw the apiary equipped with full hives, breeding hives, bees and maintenance equipment. Grant awarded £9,000
	Butterfly Conservation - Conservation of the High Brown Fritillary The grant awarded was towards Year 3 of a 4-year project by Butterfly Conservation to conserve Britain’s rarest butterfly, the High Brown Fritillary, which has its UK stronghold in the Morecambe Bay area, although other key species, such as Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Northern Brown Argus will also benefit. The main aim of the project is to undertake appropriate management of sites, nine of which lie within the AONB. In addition to the practical work, training workshops on grassland management, butterfly identification and monitoring are being held and a leaflet produced about the project for distribution to the public. Grant awarded £3,334
Lancashire Wildlife Trust - Grassland Project This project undertook grassland management on key sites within the AONB using new and existing resources to trial various restoration and management techniques, not only to improve the sites themselves but also to use them as working examples for a future larger scale grassland project. A partnership haytime project was developed to lead to an expansion of species rich hay meadows in the AONB. Grant awarded £4,000
	Wood Education Programme Trust - Cumbria Wood and Forestry Festival This programme of events was organised to raise awareness of woods and their products, enhance the tourist potential of Cumbrian woodlands for both recreation and health and to unlock additional funding to develop a local woodfuel industry. Grant awarded £4,600
Cumbria Wildlife Trust - Morecambe Bay Conservation Grazing Apprenticeship Many sites in the AONB require extensive grazing by cattle in order to deliver their nationally important biodiversity targets, with each site requiring grazing regimes specifically tailored to its particular biodiversity objectives.  To ensure the long-term sustainability of this service, an apprentice was taken on to assist and learn from the present grazier in performing the increasingly demanding task of managing such a widely scattered grazing system. The apprentice started his training in January 2010 and the SDF grant enabled him to complete a full year’s training. Grant awarded £12,000
	Louise Ann Wilson and SAP Dance - Jack Scout Dance & Live Art Performance “Jack Scout” was a coastal dance and live art project specific to Jack Scout, an intimate location of bewitching beauty and extraordinary cultural and scientific value in Silverdale. Essentially, it involved an extensive process of “logging” the place and its people; a series of workshops, outdoor public performances (involving local groups and schoolchildren), a film and a website. The project also received significant financial support from The Arts Council, Lancaster University Nuffield Theatre and Lancaster City Council. Grant awarded £6,000
	MBCG Co Ltd - Morecambe Bay Local Grazing Scheme The Morecambe Bay Local Grazing Scheme (MBLGS) provides an essential service to a number of significant public, voluntary and private sector landowners in the Arnside & Silverdale AONB and further afield.  The service is unique in the quality of the grazing management it delivers in that priority is given to achieving nature conservation and landscape objectives – most of the land grazed is in protected landscapes and/or on designated nature conservation sites.  Without MBLGS many of the sites would not be grazed so sympathetically, or even at all.  Grant awarded £5,000
Liverpool John Moores University - Cave Conservation Plan A local cave has been found to contain Romano-British to medieval archaeology. Excavated in 1912 and again in the 1950s, the bone-bearing deposits are still visible within the cave. However, recent caving activity has uncovered a new passage below the archaeology and the archaeological sediments are vulnerable to damage from water and passing cave traffic. This conservation project was set up to  remove the rubbish which had accumulated in the cave cut back and protect the vulnerable archaeological section analyse recovered materials using modern scientific methods.  Grant awarded £1,580
Ashleigh Court Residents - Community Carbon Footprint Reduction Project Ashleigh Court consists of 32 apartments providing accommodation with care line and emergency systems installed for elderly people. The building is serviced entirely by electricity for heating and lighting purposes and it is provided with a number of communal lounges and a network of corridors and staircases where lighting is required continuously throughout the day and night. Residents, some of whom attended the Green Communities workshop organized by the AONB Unit last year, came together to look at their carbon footprint and to investigate ways in which it could be reduced. The SDF grant was awarded to assist with the installation of corridor and stairwell energy-saving lighting. Grant awarded £1,000
	Bill Hogarth Memorial Apprenticeship Trust - Coppice Apprentice Woodland management and sustainable land based businesses are a priority for this AONB. The apprentice received high quality training in traditional coppice skills and was encouraged to develop a range of innovative products to extend the current coppice business. Grant awarded £2,250

Working for a strong connection between people and the landscape

Cross Bay Walks are popular at Arnside

We believe the long-term conservation of our landscape can only be achieved through active participation by people, both local residents and visitors. Arnside & Silverdale AONB is highly valued by many for its rich wildlife and stunning scenery.

We aim to get people enthused about this area and what's special about it, encouraging people to experience, discover and enjoy its special qualities in a sustainable way, and ultimately to take action to care for it themselves.

We provide the right information and a series of opportunities for people to get involved in discovering and looking after the area and its wonders.

High adventure in Trowbarrow

Two young cyclists enjoying the thrills and splashes at Trowbarrow Local Nature Reserve

The AONB Officer talking with Tramper visitors at Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve

Key Achievements in 2010/11:

• We made further significant improvements and additions to the AONB website, establishing it as our principal communications tool
• We have maintained an active Arnside & Silverdale AONB facebook page since March 2011.
• We worked with a communications and marketing expert from Creativity at Work to begin development of a AONB Communications Strategy
• We distributed 4 issues of our paper newsletter Waymarker before introducing our new e-newsletter and distributing 5 issues of this – over 400 people and organisations have now registered to receive it. Subscribing to the e-newsletter is possible from every page of the website.
• We published and distributed an updated Discover guide to the AONB
• We worked with the National Association for AONBs to adopt the new look for the AONB Family. Our Discover guide was one of the first in the country to promote Landscapes for Life
• We co-ordinated the AONB Walking Festival, which would take place in June 2011. We developed a delivery partnership and produced branded promotional material ahead of the Festival’s launch.
• We made improvements to the reception area of the AONB office to enable us to operate effectively as a small information centre, developing a relationship with a Arnside-based photographer to provide a small exhibition space and update the AONB photo-library.
• We organised and promoted four major events with huge success attracting over 2000 visitors:
  

  the AONB Wildflower Festival,  the first Bay Discovery Day the AONB conference  the Greenwood Fair, (finale of the Cumbria Wood and Forestry Festival),

• We attended the very popular Westmorland County Show, which attracted about 25,000 visitors
• We worked closely with the AONB Landscape Trust including:
  

  writing regular articles in Keer to Kent Journal (circulation c1000) holding discussions with Trustees on matters of mutual interest providing ongoing guidance, support and advice sharing training information and good practice supporting their part-time administrator

• We continued to work with and support the Bittern Countryside CIC and a range of other local societies and groups
• An artist in residence worked with local schools as part of an arts programme linked to Bay Discovery Day, enabling our school children to learn about and celebrate their marine environment 
• We reviewed and updated our volunteer involvement policy and procedures and our volunteer programme involved over 100 people contributing over 6000 hours and making a wide variety of different valuable contributions to our work
• By producing media briefings and press releases we generated 20 pieces of media coverage from local newspapers and radio
• We organised and hosted a round of the Lancashire & Westmorland Hedgelaying Grand Prix Competition
• We provided 8 talks and walks to local groups
• We led 6 educational visits for local school groups at Warton Crag Local Nature Reserve 
• We have provided and facilitated a range of training opportunities including:
  

  woodland management hedgelaying graduate placement school work experience placement talks to university student groups Forest Schools

Working for a dynamic and successful AONB partnership

A key role of the AONB Team is to bring together the many individuals, organisations and groups who have an involvement with the area to speak with one voice and act in a coordinated way. Today’s AONB Partnership has representatives from our local authorities, national agencies, landowners, voluntary organisations and local communities and the Partnership develops and guides delivery of a joint AONB Management Plan. Partnership working unlocks significant resources and expertise, bringing huge benefits to the area.

The tidal bore rushing in at Arnside

Key Achievements in 2010/11:

• The Executive Committee met twice to consider policy and management of the AONB
• The Technical Officers' Group continued to meet and advise the AONB Team and Executive Committee
• We finalised a new Partnership Agreement between the principal funding partners
• The AONB Partnership management arrangements were developed and enhanced through 4 Executive Committee Working Groups covering:
  

  Sustainable Visitor Economy  Planning Landscape Sustainable Development Fund

• AONB staff attended appropriate training such as first aid, event management, leadership and website content management
• On 28th April 2010 we organised a popular Annual Conference – “Looking out to Sea” celebrating the marine and coastal environment of the AONB and discovering what the Marine & Coastal Access Act means for the area. Speakers included:
  

  Howard Davies, CEO National Association for AONBs Chris Lumb, Regional Marine Advisor, Natural England Susannah Bleakley, Morecambe Bay Partnership Andrew Best, National Coastal Access Team, Natural England

• We worked with Morecambe Bay Partnership to develop and submit a £2million bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund's Landscape Partnership Scheme - see below for more details.
• We linked with a range of wider projects to ensure they benefit the AONB, notably Morecambe Bay Wildlife Network, Lancashire and Cumbria Biodiversity Partnerships and RSPB Futurescapes.
• We worked with and supported the National Association of AONBs and other protected landscapes through membership, consultations, training events, regional staff fora and the AONB Family conference. 
• Richard Benyon, Defra Parliamentary Under Secretary recently indicated his support for AONBs reflecting the successful work of the National Association of AONBs