Natural Flood Management project reaches new milestone at Common Farm

The National Trust has completed Phase 2 of its Natural Flood Management (NFM) project at Common Farm and Common Wood, marking another important step in efforts to reduce flood risk in Windermere while enhancing habitats for wildlife.

Building on the success of Phase 1, three additional wetland areas have now been created to help slow the flow of water into Mill Beck. The earlier phase established new ponds and wetlands in some of the farm’s wettest areas, demonstrating how water can be stored higher up in the landscape and released more gradually. The latest work expands this capacity, helping to reduce flood peaks during heavy rainfall while also supporting nature recovery and carbon storage.

The project is already delivering benefits for wildlife, with wetland birds including snipe and oystercatchers making use of the habitats created during last year’s work. All excavated areas will be seeded with a native Cumbrian seed mix, helping them blend naturally into the surrounding landscape.

Natural Flood Management is designed to reduce flood risk by working with natural processes. During extreme weather events, ponds and wetlands capture rainfall and temporarily store water, releasing it slowly over time. This helps reduce the volume and speed of water entering local watercourses such as Mill Beck, which was affected during Storm Desmond in 2015.

The project is also expected to improve water quality. Surface water runoff can carry sediment and nutrients, including phosphates, into streams and rivers. By slowing the movement of water across the landscape, the new ponds and wetlands allow sediment to settle naturally before it reaches Mill Beck, reducing erosion and helping to improve the quality of water entering the catchment.

As a nature-based solution, Natural Flood Management provides environmental, social and economic benefits while helping communities adapt to the impacts of climate change. Monitoring of water quality, river levels and flow rates is taking place throughout the project, with findings being shared with the Environment Agency to help inform future flood management schemes across the UK.

The project is funded through the Environment Agency’s £25 million Natural Flood Management Programme.

Project at a glance:

Approximately 30,000m³ of water storage created

More than 20 ponds and 18 wetlands established across the site

Two years of monitoring and survey data being collected through to March 2027

Benefits for flood resilience, water quality, biodiversity and carbon storage