16th February 2023

A whole lotta love was shown for Windermere on Valentine’s Day as residents came along to learn more about the future of the lake.

A community drop-in event took place at the Lake District Visitor Centre  at Brockhole to introduce the members of the Love Windermere partnership to the community and demonstrate the work that they have been doing around Windermere in recent times as well as work currently on-going.

Nutrients, climate change, more extreme weather patterns and the seasonal variations of the tourist population are all predicted to put the lake and its water quality under increasing pressure in the coming years. Long-term records show that the average annual surface temperature of Windermere has increased, leading to conditions that favour the growth of algae and reduce levels of oxygen.

More than 80 local residents, including wild swimmers, councillors and local business representatives came along to ask questions about the partnership’s plans to protect the lake.

It was a chance to find out about the evidence-based, long-term plans that are being developed to maintain and improve water quality in the lake while balancing the needs of nature, the community and the local economy. One of the first aims of Love Windermere is to collate more scientific evidence to better understand which solutions will be most effective and to help prioritise activity.  Work on this has already started with research like the Big Windermere Survey which has seen a hundred Citizen Scientist volunteers sampling water each season at various points around the lake and its tributaries. The results are helping experts at Lancaster University and the Freshwater Biological Association to build up a picture of conditions in Windermere throughout the year.