Transforming the landscape at Geltsdale

Tucked away in the north-west corner of the North Pennines, RSPB Geltsdale is a remote and ruggedly beautiful nature reserve made up of a patchwork of blanket bog, upland heath, acid grassland, meadows and woodland, as well as two farms. It’s now home to rare birds such as Black Grouse and Curlews, and is one of the few places where Hen Harriers are clinging on in England. 

Before we started working at Geltsdale in 1975, it was managed as a grouse moor and sheep farm, and it’s still surrounded by land used for these purposes. In common with many parts of the northern English uplands, the site had a long history of drainage, burning and grazing to provide good conditions for grouse shooting. As a result, large areas of blanket bog, heath and grassland were in a poor state, but since we began restoration work in the 1990s, the landscape has been transformed. 

To help the blanket bog return to a healthy, soggy state, we’ve blocked artificial drainage ditches and replaced damaging heather burning with heather cutting, to help reduce the dominance of heather. We’ve also reduced the amount of sheep grazing on the site and instead switched to using cattle and ponies, which graze in a different way to sheep, helping to create a more varied mix of ground vegetation.  

Thanks to this work, we’ve seen a fantastic improvement in the condition of the blanket bog, with peat-forming Sphagnum mosses beginning to recover. These mosses are vital in allowing the bog to absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere, helping to tackle climate change.  

Elsewhere on the reserve we’ve planted a large area of native broadleaf woodland – known as Bruthwaite pasture woodland – to connect up existing isolated patches of trees. In spring, this woodland now echoes with the songs of birds like Willow Warblers, and in winter it acts as an important refuge for Black Grouse, which have declined dramatically in the area.  

Now, with the help of clever ‘NoFence’ technology, we’ve been able to introduce cattle to the wood, to break up the ground flora and create ideal conditions for new trees to grow. Elsewhere, we’re using ponies to reduce bracken cover, creating space for tree seedlings to sprout and for birds like Black Grouse to feed. 

With support from our partners and funders, we’ve completed an ambitious project to naturalise Howgill Beck, a small river that was straightened more than 200 years ago to try to stop water flooding onto the surrounding land. Now that the river’s natural meanders have been restored, the flow of the water has slowed, which should allow gravel beds to form. These habitats are really important for fish and invertebrates, which in turn provide food for birds and other wildlife.  

During periods of high rainfall, river water can now spill out onto the surrounding floodplain meadows, helping to reduce the chance of flooding downstream and providing vital pools and damp patches for wading birds, like Lapwings and Redshanks, to feed on. 

Geltsdale is a fantastic place to see a range of different birds of prey, including Merlins, Peregrine Falcons, Hen Harriers and Short-eared Owls. Sadly, there is a long and sorry history of raptor persecution in the surrounding area, with nesting Peregrines and Hen Harriers often targeted by criminals, largely because they are known to sometimes feed on grouse.  

In the case of Hen Harriers, male birds are sometimes killed when they make hunting trips away from the reserve – since 2020, six male birds have disappeared in this way. Although we do everything we can to protect the birds, with RSPB staff and volunteers monitoring nests round-the-clock, they are vulnerable whenever they venture beyond the safety of the reserve.