Andrew Thomas talks to David Harpley, Conservation Manager of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, about how the coronavirus lockdown measures are impacting wildlife in the county.

When taking a daily walk from your home it is noticeable just how quieter everything is, with near-empty roads and the daily noise of everyday living much less perceptible.

But are the consequences of the lockdown measures having a positive or negative effect on wildlife in Cumbria?

David Harpley is Conservation Manager of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, a voluntary organisation devoted to the conservation of the wildlife and wild places of Cumbria. The charity’s mission is to protect wildlife for the future and bring people closer to nature. It looks after 37 nature reserves in Cumbria, including Foulshaw Moss, near Witherslack; Foulney Island, near Barrow; and South Walney on Walney Island.

“Songbirds will be having an easier time because it is so much less noisy,” said Mr Harpley, 57. “If songbirds live in places which are noisy, such as beside roads, they have to spend more time trying to make themselves heard.

“Birds use song to communicate with one another. When you hear a robin, it is communicating with other robins. It is saying ‘I am a male robin, I am here, other male robins should stay away’ and, depending on the time of year, ‘but lady robins are most welcome’.

“All that beautiful song you hear in the morning when blackbirds are singing is saying that other blackbirds should stay away because this is my territory. Blackbirds are already feeding youngsters in the nest so they need to have exclusive use of a patch of ground from which to pick out worms.”

Lack of traffic was also having a beneficial impact on wildlife, said Mr Harpley. “Think of all the things that normally get run over – foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, frogs and toads. The percentage getting run over is much smaller now.”

And far fewer insects were getting ‘splattered’ on windscreens. “Insects are central to the way all eco-systems work,” said Mr Harpley. “They pollinate the flowers, they feed most of the birds and pollinate most of the ground crops – we cannot do without them”

People - and in particular, dogs – were not causing as much disturbance because they were not walking in many of their usual spots, he said.  “For common sandpipers, there will be a host of streams in the Lake District where usually there are too many people walking past for them to nest or where the nest is disturbed by dogs putting their nose in - that won’t be happening at the moment.”

On the negative side places within walking distance of people’s homes were likely to be busier and this could be affecting species, which were ‘disturbance sensitive’. Nesting curlews near towns, for example, could be doing less well than usual.

Scavengers, such as foxes, crows and red kites, would be having a more difficult time as roadkill diminished, he said. “Urban pigeons and seagulls will also be finding life a bit harder because there is less discarded food, such as half-eaten sandwiches, around.”

Mr Harpley was also concerned about possible levels of funding from the Government when coronavirus had passed and money was tight and that donations from individuals and other bodies might decline.

But he did think that people were more likely to appreciate nature in future. “You do get to hear and see the birds more because you are not rushing around as much - and on social media people are sharing things about bird song, referring to butterflies in their garden and asking others to help identify wildlife they have seen.

“You would hope all this would have a lasting benefit and people would appreciate nature and wildlife even more.”

To donate to Cumbria Wildlife Trust visit its website https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/