A new badger watching hide and wildlife experience has opened in the Lake District.
Visitors can watch badgers at Wild Haweswater from the custom-built hide and as the viewing area has lighting, people can continue badger watching well after sunset.
Haweswater is the base for ground-breaking landscape recovery work, which is the result of a pioneering partnership between landowner United Utilities and the RSPB, working together since 2011, to enhance the landscape for the future, benefiting wildlife, water, and people.
Wild Haweswater opened its first badger watching hide in 2019. However, a new hide was needed for the 2024 season, due to the old hide being next to a traditional Cumbrian spinning barn, where work has also just begun to create another exciting new visitor facility.
The new hide has been made possible thanks to funding from the Icthius Trust.
Annabel Rushton, RSPB visitor experience manager at Wild Haweswater, said: “Badgers are an iconic mammal of the British countryside, but due to their night time activity, often people have never seen one.
“Our new hide has been built overlooking an area that is already frequented by badgers, so we know it will offer visitors the very best views of these secretive mammals.
“The success of our badger watching experiences at Haweswater is in no small part down to our brilliant team of volunteers who help to welcome visitors here.
“This is all about giving the public a unique nature experience, with one of the UK’s most iconic, but secretive mammals. To see these beautiful creatures up close – they can come within a metre of the hide – is a truly magical experience for people of all ages.”
The hide has ramps installed for wheelchair users, and a parking space right next to it, so that once restoration work on the Spinning Barn is completed, which will include a new accessible toilet, a more inclusive badger watching experience will be available.
Along with the new Badger Watching Hide, work has also just begun to restore the spinning barn, to create an indoor space for groups visiting Wild Haweswater.
Thanks to a £135,000 grant from FCC Communities Foundation, the spinning barn will be restored to its original appearance and create a new community and visitor hub. This will be an indoor space for hosting groups and events as well as providing information to those visiting the RSPB’s office base at Wild Haweswater.
Annabel added: “This converted spinning barn will make a difference to locals and visitors alike. We already get lots of groups from nearby, around Cumbria and further afield coming to find out more about our conservation work here.
“This means we will be able to provide a dry, comfortable place for group visits and our existing events and experiences programme, as well as being able to offer new events such as wellbeing activities and we’re looking forward to this taking shape over the next year.”
The badger watching hide at Wild Haweswater is available bookings now and experiences are available between April and October, Tuesday to Saturday, by pre-booking via the Wild Haweswater website at www.wildhaweswater.co.uk
Over £15,000 has been raised by offering the badger viewing experiences since this was first trialled in 2019 and this income is used to fund the ongoing conservation work at Haweswater.
