Across Cumbria there is no shortage of commitment to nature recovery. What came through strongly during the discussion was the value of collaboration – making sure individual projects add up to something bigger.

By working together across boundaries and organisations, nature recovery can be more joined up, more resilient and more impactful. This landscape-scale approach helps habitats connect, species recover and communities benefit.

The county’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) provides a shared direction for this work. Rather than replacing existing programmes, it helps guide where effort and investment can make the biggest difference.

Participants explored how the LNRS can be used to connect activity across Cumbria and support long-term thinking, while still allowing different projects and partnerships to play to their strengths.

A practical focus of the day was how the Lawton principles – making nature more, bigger, better and more joined up – can be applied on the ground.

This means looking beyond individual sites and thinking about how habitats link together across the wider landscape. Even features such as hedgerows and roadside verges can play an important role when managed with connectivity in mind.

Another key theme was understanding the full picture of nature recovery across Cumbria. By mapping current and emerging projects, organisations can spot opportunities to work together, reduce duplication and make better use of skills, funding and resources.

This kind of shared understanding helps ensure effort is focused where it can have the greatest impact.

Working together was a constant theme throughout the workshop. Collaboration between landowners, farmers and land managers was seen as essential to delivering change at scale, supported by emerging national approaches that encourage collective working.

The importance of trust, shared ambition and learning from one another came through strongly.

The day was shaped by keynote speakers who shared real-world experience of nature recovery at scale.

Jim Lowther spoke about the nature recovery work underway on the Lowther Estate, offering inspiration from what can be achieved through long-term commitment.

Lisa Chilton from Scotland: The Big Picture highlighted the power of trusted partnerships and ambition in delivering lasting change across landscapes.

Mike Innerdale, Regional Director for the North of England at the National Trust and Chair of Nature North, said:

“This event showed what collaboration and scaling up together can look like in practice. There is a huge amount of work already happening across Cumbria including emerging Landscape Recovery Schemes. The focus on connectivity and shared learning gives us a strong foundation to drive nature recovery forward.”

Martin Varley, Programme Manager for Cumbria Connect, added:

“By building on existing programmes and investment we can align effort, share skills and make sure nature recovery across Cumbria delivers impact at the scale needed.”

The workshop highlighted Cumbria’s strong position to lead nature recovery across the North. By working together and building on what already exists, the county can play a key role in national ambitions such as protecting and restoring 30 per cent of land for nature by 2030.

For Cumbria Connect and its partners, the focus now is on keeping this collaboration going and turning shared ambition into long-lasting benefits for nature and communities across the county.