Our top accolade, a Gold Badger’s Paw Award, has been presented to 21 hard-working volunteers from across the county, in recognition for their untiring support for wildlife.

Every year, a select group of Cumbria’s most dedicated conservation volunteers are chosen to receive the special award, to thank them for their many years of hard work in helping Cumbria’s wildlife.

This year’s worthy winners of a Badger’s Paw Award were:

• Romola Acland from Kendal, for her longstanding commitment and dedication to the conservation of Cumbria’s hay meadows
• Steve Benn of Ulverston for working many years to support marine wildlife on our coast in Barrow, including supporting our marine trainee scheme and more recently on the coastal wellbeing project The Bay
• Heather Chislett from Barrow, a long-standing volunteer at South Walney Nature Reserve and a familiar and friendly face, welcoming visitors to our coastal nature reserve with its grey seal colony
• Chris Dove from Carlisle, for his dedicated work at the wildlife gardens and nursery at Gosling Sike, our northern base, as well as on our nature reserves across the north of the county.
• Stephen Hewitt, from Penrith, was recognised for his tireless work at Tullie House Museum, recording wildlife and training others, and for his support for Carlisle Natural History Society.
• David Jackson of Grange, for his support over many years at conservation work parties on our nature reserves, in particular Latterbarrow, Humphrey Head and Brown Robin
• Alasdair McKee and Susan McKee from Lancaster, for championing the ospreys at Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve since 2015. As well as welcoming visitors and telling them about wildlife on the nature reserve, they also run the popular Twitter account @Foulshaw2, bringing the ospreys to a huge audience of fans, both locally and globally
• Brenda Sumner, of Ulverston, for her tireless work as treasurer for the Ulverston Local Support Group, in particular for raising awareness, organising events and serving refreshments, for an incredible 27 years!
• Peter Woodhead from Grange, a longstanding volunteer who worked on, among many other things, dwarf willow surveys and the geology of our nature reserves; he was also a valued committee member and trustee, who was instrumental in developing opportunities for young conservationists with the University of Cumbria

Finally, a Group Badger’s Paw Award was awarded to 11 volunteers - Rob Barr, Gary Baum, Anne Burton, Janet Evans, Nick Evans, Rona Frame, Martin Golden, Alex Heron, Patricia Howell, Sue Richardson and Andy Smith – who take it in turns to visit a herd of belted Galloway cattle on Eycott Hill Nature Reserve. They check the cattle every day, counting them and looking out for anything unusual in their behaviour. The hardy cattle are semi-wild and are kept at Eycott Hill because they graze with their tongues, leaving different heights of vegetation, which helps native plants to take hold and flourish.

This year’s awards were presented during a special all-day Volunteer Gathering, held at The Brathay Trust near Ambleside. This was the first time the annual Badger’s Paw award ceremony has been held in person since 2019.

Stephen Trotter, Chief Executive of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, paid tribute to their outstanding work, saying: “Congratulations to our Gold Badger’s Paw award winners for their fantastic contribution to helping our county’s wildlife. All of our volunteers play a vital part in bringing wildlife back to Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness. We really value their commitment, support and hard work. It is fair to say that Cumbria Wildlife Trust was created by volunteers, is maintained by volunteers and will only be able to continue its work, thanks to its many volunteers. It is amazing how many people work so hard for wildlife, in so many different ways. We are incredibly grateful to them all.”

The Volunteer Gathering was a day of celebrations to thank our volunteers for their hard work. Around 600 people are actively involved with volunteering for Cumbria Wildlife Trust, in many different ways, from plug-planting, monitoring species and beach cleans, to office-based roles, including administration and marketing. As well as meeting other volunteers, the attendees had the chance to try out whale boating and canoeing on Windermere, as well as enjoying bird-watching and wildlife folklore walks around the lovely grounds at The Brathay Trust.

You may also like ...