Bassenthwaite National Nature Reserve

Bassenthwaite National Nature Reserve

• Our vision
• About Bassenthwaite
• Land ownership
• Factors affecting the Reserve
• Site strengths
• Site weaknesses
• External opportunities
• External challenges
• Objectives and targets

Management Plan

Bassenthwaite Lake National Nature Reserve (NNR) Management Plan will guide how we intend to manage the NNR for the next five years with resources available. As landowner and land manager, the Lake District National Park Authority is required to maintain an up-to-date management plan for Bassenthwaite Nature Reserve to:

• manage priority wildlife and habitats identified by Natural England, UK/EU law
• address issues identified by landowners, lake users, permit users, stakeholders.
• offer lakeside recreation at Peel Wyke, Beck Wythop, Woodend
• focus on outcomes: how and where we can make a difference over five years

Bassenthwaite Management Plan (PDF) can be emailed to you on request.

Please send your request to cath.johnson@lakedistrict.gov.uk

Our vision and how we will achieve It

The Vision sets out how we would like the NNR to function in 50 years time and helps guide our decision making to improve and look after Bassenthwaite Lake.

Bassenthwaite Lake in 2074

• Naturally, functioning lake system, supporting a wealth of wildlife and habitats.
• Water quality improved, the lake will continue to support diverse assemblages of native and notable species of fish, plants, invertebrates, mammals and birds.
• Supporting a resilient well-functioning natural, transition of habitats from open water to riparian vegetation and wet woodland along the majority of shoreline. Areas of unvegetated shore will be absent or restricted to localised areas. Away from lakeshore, fen meadows, flood plain fen and woodland will support a healthy undisturbed wealth of native flora and fauna.
• Invasive, introduced species, particularly, New Zealand pygmy weed, Himalayan balsam, Japanese knotweed and mink, will be either absent, or present at very low controlled levels, such that they present no competitive or predatory threat to the native species present in and around the lake. No new invasive non-native species will have been introduced.
• The lake will be managed as a place where responsible visiting is encouraged. People will come to enjoy quiet recreation and the wealth of wildlife present, both on the water and shore and a place.
• Communities will be motivated and inspired to support the management of the lake through volunteer and educational opportunities and stimulate a strong sense of pride and ownership of the local environment and its distinctive character.

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About Bassenthwaite

Bassenthwaite Lake lies in the north-west of the Lake District National Park in the valley of the river Derwent some three kilometres north-west of Keswick.

Map: Bassenthwaite lake location within the Lake District National Park, OS 2024

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Map 2:  areas covered by the Management Plan

Map: Areas covered by the Management Plan - Beck Wythop, Broadness Meadow, Ouse Bridge, Peel Wyke, Rough and Green Mires, The Woodland Lakeshore, Forest Inventory (Forestry Commission), Bassenthwaite NNR

Map 3: Public Access

Map: public access - Peel Wyke slipway, permitted paths, no fishing zone, public rights of way, bridleway, public footpath,  LDNPA land with public access, No Watercraft, sailing club priority zone, forest inventory (Forestry Commission), Bassenthwaite NNR

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National Conservation Status

Bassenthwaite Lake supports internationally and nationally important populations of aquatic plants including floating water plantain, six-stamened waterwort and autumn water-starwort.

The lake also hosts nationally and internationally important populations of fish such as, Atlantic salmon, brook lamprey and vendace. Vendace are only found naturally in two lakes in the UK, Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite Lake and the Bassenthwaite population is very small.

Unlike many lakes in the Lake District Bassenthwaite has extensive sections of natural lakeshore vegetation and these support nationally important assemblages of invertebrates, plants and birds including thread rush, water sedge, great crested grebe, little ringed plover, osprey, kingfisher, reed bunting, reed warbler and grasshopper warbler.

The lake is designated as the River Derwent and Bassenthwaite Lake Special Area of Conservation and Bassenthwaite Lake Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Recreation and Access

In terms of recreational use Bassenthwaite Lake is the least developed and quietest of the larger lakes in the National Park.

There is no public right of navigation on the lake and all lake users require a permit. Bassenthwaite Sailing Club has a lease allowing it to use the lake, with the exception of two no boating zones and Calvert Trust, Scarness Outdoor Centre, Scarness Bay Park and Armathwaite Hall who can launch small numbers of boats at their own slipways.

• The only slipway for use by permit holders is at Peel Wyke. Woodend Lakeshore is also used for launching by windsurfers, canoes, kayaks and paddleboarders.
• Public access to lakeshore is mainly from car parks and laybys along the western shore at Ouse Bridge, Peel Wyke, Beck Wythop, Blackstock Point and Woodend.
• Access along eastern shore is limited to a lakeside public footpath, Scarness to Broadness Farm and a public footpath down to lakeshore at Lakeside Wood.
• Fishing is a significant recreational activity on the lake, particularly for salmon at Ouse Bridge and pike and roach at Beck Wythop. All fishing requires a permit.

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There is the potential for the spread of other invasive non-native species not currently present through increased use of the lake and both a lack of awareness of the need for biosecurity and compliance with biosecurity measures, particularly amongst new lake users. We need to ensure better habitat resilience to the effects of extreme climatic events resulting from climate change, such as high winds, floods and droughts to prevent the occurrence of new pathways to non-native invasive species and their negative impact on native biodiversity.

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Funding

Over the last ten years LDNP budgetary constraints has resulted in significant changes in staffing and other resources. As a result, NPA resources available for site management have reduced, leading to less of a physical presence on site.

Eutrophication

• Eutrophication of the lake waters from sewage outfalls and agricultural run-off causes anoxia in the hypolimnion in late summer which is detrimental to vendace and the ecology of the lake as a whole. Eutrophication has also resulted in the accumulation of dead algae and other dead plant material on vendace spawning grounds which has detrimental effects on vendace reproductive success, though further investigation has revealed that the major component of this silt is inorganic and consequently not the product of nutrient enrichment.
• Although the main external source of nutrients has been dealt with by adding a phosphate stripper to the Keswick wastewater treatment works in 1995, there are still nutrients stored in lake sediments. Further, not all the phosphate is removed by the stripper, even under normal circumstances, as the efficiency of the process is reduced due to dilution due to high precipitation levels. During periods of heavy rain, the success of phosphate removal declines further, as the capacity of the works is exceeded, and the tertiary treatment is bypassed.
• The re-suspension of these phosphate-rich sediments by wave action in the shallow waters of Bassenthwaite Lake is thought to be the main reason why there has been a far less dramatic improvement in the aquatic ecology of this lake following the introduction of phosphate stripping than has been seen in deeper lakes, like Lake Windermere. Sediment removal is considered to be impractical as a remedial action for Bassenthwaite Lake, due to its size.

Sedimentation

• Sedimentation is considered to be the primary cause of the extinction of vendace. Eggs laid by the fish in the early winter months become smothered by sediment before they have had chance to hatch the following spring. The majority of the sediment affecting vendace spawning grounds is inorganic and is derived from the catchment. Several issues to do with catchment management have affected the sediment load entering the lake, including, soil erosion, land drainage and riverbank maintenance works, forestry and road building.

Abandoned Metal Mines

Abandoned metal mines pollute about 36km of rivers in the Derwent catchment. These polluted watercourses all enter Bassenthwaite Lake, including Coledale Beck, Newlands Beck, Comb Beck and Gategill Beck.

Non-native invasive species

• The presence of New Zealand pygmy weed Crassula helmsii in Derwent Water and elsewhere outside the NNR renders attempts at eradication ineffective due to high likelihood of reintroduction.
• Himalayan balsam Impatiens glandulifera and Japanese knotweed Fallopia japonica are present on site and upstream on the River Derwent, leading to potential for invasion of lakeshore habitats by these species.

National Highways Cycle Trail

• Any future plans to upgrade the current permitted path to a cycle trail has the potential to increase disturbance along the western shore. Although the permitted route is currently fenced off from the lakeshore sensitive areas will need to be screened and managed to minimise disturbance of wildlife through tree planting and further soft engineering to discourage users from accessing sensitive areas along the lake shore.

Climate change

• Climate change brings a number of challenges for the NNR, including warming of the lake water which may make it less viable for vendace; increased frequency and magnitude of storms which can result in pollution of the lake by floodwaters, lakeshore erosion, disturbance of sediments and damage to the visitor infrastructure such as paths and hides.
• Extreme climatic events resulting from climate change, such as high winds, floods and droughts can transport and open new pathways to non- native invasive species into to new areas and decrease the resistance of natural habitats to invasions. Become, negatively impacting on native biodiversity.

Other

• Pollution from chemical spillage following road accidents on the A66(T) is an ongoing threat to the lakes water quality however measures have been taken by the EA and the County Council Highways Department to contain any such incidents including the drawing up of an emergency plan.
• Since the lifting of visitor restrictions post Covid-19 pandemic in 2020

visitor numbers and activity have increased and are likely to remain high as predictions indicate that numbers visiting the Lake District will increase and trends in water sports such as wild swimming and paddleboarding will be sustained.

• Visitor numbers will need to be closely monitored and if necessary, a Visitor Management Action Plan be assigned to support the maintenance of the “quiet recreation” visitor experience and wildlife and habitats.

Management of these activities and clearing of litter following them is likely to become a major feature of visitor management in the future.

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