What's in the water? Windermere lake bed clean up

Windermere will be a little bit cleaner after Friends of the Lake District’s mass conservation volunteer day at Windermere this week – when divers will head into the water to do a lake bed clean up. Led by TV presenter, diver and explorer Paul Rose (pictured) divers from Kendal Sub Aqua Club will be clearing the lake bed of litter and bringing it to shore at Waterhead, Ambleside between 10.30am and 12.30pm on Thursday 25 October.

The lake bed clean up is part of Friends of the Lake District’s mass volunteering Fell Care Day, when a whole range of tasks will be taking place, including footpath work, tree planting and school activities, themed around improving water quality.

Paul Rose said: "Windermere is a beautiful lake and our clean-up is part of raising awareness of the impact that we have on our environment. It's great that divers can add an extra element to the Friends of the Lake District land-based Fell Care Day and do our bit to look after Windermere".

Volunteers from Impact International will work with the divers to get the litter out of the water.
The plan is for the litter collected to be used by a local school, working with an artist, to create a piece of art in 2013, helping to raise wider awareness of the importance of improving water quality.
Non-diving volunteers at Windermere Fell Care Day will be taking part in a range of activities from footpath creation work at Wray Castle, drain clearance and path repairs to prevent erosion at Wansfell, Loughrigg, Troutbeck and Miller Ground, Bowness, hazel tree planting and pond digging at Sweden Wood, Ambleside, rebuilding a dry stone wall by the lakeshore at Wray Castle, undertaking a wax cap fungi survey at Heaning Mislet, and wheelchair access works at White Moss Common.

Run by the Friends’ Flora of the Fells project, ‘Windermere Fell Care Day’ follows their very successful Fell Care Day at Ullswater in September, when more than 200 volunteers gave 1000 hours of their time to conservation work in the Ullswater valley in one day, and a litter pick by canoe pulled nine bags of rubbish, a broken gazebo and a sunken canoe from the lake.

26 groups and organisations will be taking part including volunteers and staff from Friends of the Lake District, the Lake District National Park Authority, the National Trust, Natural England, and Windermere Reflections. 

For more information see http://www.floraofthefells.com/help-us/volunteering, or  http://www.fld.org.uk/fell-care-days.html