Wild Fell: Fighting for nature on a Lake District hill farm

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Lee describes the battles he and his conservation team have faced nationally with "here today-gone tomorrow" politicians, and locally with some neighbours, all with an even hand and revealing insight. He takes respite in other wilder places, courage from his community and advice from forward thinking farmers, about how to rescue Lakeland's disappearing wildlife, through remeandering its rivers, reverting to traditional farm practices, restoring mountain flowers and bird life, and answering that killer question; "where have all the flowers gone?"

Beavers, Farming & Beyond! with Lee Schofield. Interviewed by Sophie Pavelle and Eva Bishop for the Beaver Trust’s Lodge Cast. Podcast/March 2023 As well as I hope this book does, and it has made the Wainwright Longlist, purely selfishly, I hope it doesn't result in a huge influx of visitors to the area. It is an extremely beautiful area, and most readers will want to visit having read this, let's hope they just don't all come at once.. Saving nature is a tough job. In Wild Fell we get to understand why people do it: real soul-deep passion. -- Simon Barnes Wild Fell leaves you in no doubt that if we don't protect our wild blooms, there won't be any bugs and there won't be any birds and, ultimately, any people. BBC Countryfile Magazine

Nilsen, E. B., Milner-Gulland, E. J., Schofield, L., Mysterud, A., Stenseth, N. C., & Coulson, T. (2007). Wolf reintroduction to Scotland: public attitudes and consequences for red deer management. Proceedings. Biological sciences, 274(1612), 995–1002. Accessible online Across the Lake District there are groups of people trying to change things, experimenting with different paths. People trying to see if there are different healthier ways, ones that provide a long-term future for people and wildlife, together. One such group is the RSPB in Haweswater, Lee Schofield is one of the rangers there and this is the story of their journey. It is the same rugged Lake District, beautiful and still accessible. The shape of the mountains is the same but it's got more trees and wildlife in it. We're seeing red kites returning and the critical thing is having sheep on enclosed land rather than wandering all over the place," Lee says.

Whilst there have been devastating clearances of trees and diversion of water courses which have affected fish, wildlife and plant numbers, the Lake District still boasts some of the rarest, pristine habitats in its inaccessible peaks. The rise of rooftop wildlife – living slices of landscape carpeted with grasses, moss and wildflowers. Interviewed for an article on green roofs, thanks to the one that tops our badger hide at Haweswater. inews/February 2021 The abuse hurt but Lee didn’t give up on his Lakes dream. Interviewed for an article about the personal aspects of Wild Fell. The Daily Express/February 2022 One the joyful parts of this book are the names of the various plant species that I so easily overlook. I can’t even remember most of the names but Schofield reels them off in a way that is glorious – Alpine Catchfly, Sessile Oak, Devil’s Bit Scabious, Goldenrod, Wood Crane’s-Bill, Lesser Meadow-Rue, Yellow Mountain Saxifrage, Globeflower, Melancholy Thistle, Common Polypody, Bog Myrtle, Bedstraw, Tormentil. The sad part is that this diversity is all too sparse in an environment where it should be abundant. One aspect of the book that particularly moved me was Schofield's account of how personally distressing his job can be sometimes, as farmers and others in the Lake District resist what he and the RSPB are trying to achieve. This kind of admission is something I rarely seem to read in books by male nature writers.

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There's plenty of enjoyable reads out there. And I enjoyed this. But far more than that, I learnt a great deal about why our national parks are a natural disaster in the making, and what can be done to not only restore hope but to also take real action for nature's recovery. No one person and no one organisation can bring about the necessary change, but Schofield is doing more than most, and the vision he paints, of a fecund, collaborative, ecologically and economically sustainable future, is worth swallowing some pride for on both sides. The ranks of farmers willing to embrace or at least consider change swell year on year, and Lee is supported by a thriving local conservation community. Wild Fell documents a powerful journey through a bruised, beloved English landscape, expertly told from Lee's unique perspective. Sensitive, full of empathy and charged with a fierce, solution-based vision for a restorative, productive future alongside the natural world. I felt utterly compelled by his wise, deft prose, and am so grateful this book has been written. A remarkable debut. Sophie Pavelle