Countryfile tweet on impact of sheep grazing in Lake District sparks fierce backlash

Centuries of overgrazing have left landscapes bereft of trees and lacking biodiversity, writes Harry Cockburn

The bare slopes of peaks Kirk Fell (left) and Great Gable, from Wasdale Head, the same area the Countryfile photo was taken (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A tweet from the BBC’s Countryfile Twitter account has sparked a furious backlash after it described sheep as the “guardians of the Lake District”, despite the well-documented negative impact sheep can have on landscapes.

On Monday, the account posted a photograph of a Herdwick sheep, a robust breed which can survive solely on foraging in the fells.

“Herdwick sheep are said to be guardians of the Lake District,” the tweet read.

“Without these hardy sheep continuously grazing, the bracken and scrub would be out of control and the fells would not look the way that they do today!”

The tweet has prompted demands for an explanation from Countryfile, as conservationists have long called for a significant change in how the British uplands are managed, as overgrazing by sheep and deer prevent the natural regeneration of shrubs and trees.

Centuries of overgrazing have left landscapes in the Lake District, as well as other areas across England, Wales and Scotland, practically bereft of tree cover. The lack of woodland has resulted in a huge loss of biodiversity, and also leaves these areas at particular flood risk.

A 2020 study by scientists at the University of Liverpool concluded sheep grazing negatively affects the diversity of plant species of upland areas of the British countryside, and it could take up to 60 years to recover.

University of Liverpool ecologist, Emeritus Professor Rob Marrs, said: “Our findings confirm that the ‘white woolly maggots’ have indeed eaten at least some of the heart out of the uplands.”

Reducing numbers of sheep would allow the return of scrub - regarded as an important natural component in healthy upland ecosystems - and in the longer term, native woodland.

This would directly benefit wildlife, lock up carbon and slow down flows of water, helping to maintain high quality soils and reduce flooding.

Botanist Joshua Styles replied to the tweet: “The only thing out of control here that I can see is the sheer amount of overgrazing across the uplands which is destroying important species populations and habitats.”

Local conservation organisation Wild Lakeland also took issue with the claim in the tweet that sheep keep levels of bracken down, as sheep, deer and cattle are all unable to digest bracken.

“Bracken [is] out of control, despite sheep grazing,” they tweeted, adding: “At least scrub would smother out the bracken.”

“Sheep grazing doesn’t discourage bracken - it requires trampling or cutting and also shading from trees/scrub to be kept under control. It creates a monoculture when left to its own devices and smothers out other species.”

Lee Schofield, RSPB Haweswater site manager, told The Independent: “Sheep grazing is an important part of the Lake District’s cultural heritage. However, production focused farming subsidies introduced since the second world war have resulted in an increase in sheep numbers to a level with harmful impacts for nature.“Over the course of centuries, the landscape has become dominated by sheep, at the expense of cattle and ponies. It is this that has allowed bracken to spread.

He added: “Sheep can play a part in this, but work is needed to help farmers and land managers to adapt to new models of farming that promote nature recovery.””    

Campaigner and Guardian columnist George Monbiot, who has written extensively on the impact of overgrazing in Britain tweeted: “Without repeated grazing by sheep, the denuded, eroded landscape you can see in this photo would revert to natural vegetation, which in the Lakes is temperate rainforest. Perhaps @BBCCountryfile could explain why that's a bad thing?”

He added: “If the BBC were any keener on sheep, it’d be illegal.”

Environmentalist and financier, Ben Goldsmith, the brother of environment minister Zac Goldsmith, also responded to Countryfile’s tweet. He said: “This is an ecological desert. No scrub, no bracken, no wildflowers, no trees, no birdsong, no nothing really. Anyone with eyes can see this. A surfeit of sheep keeps the landscape this way. This is an extraordinary take from @BBCCountryfile.”

UK government advisers the Committee on Climate Change has recommended UK forestry cover is expanded from just 13 per cent - one of the lowest levels in Europe - to at least 17 per cent by 2050 by planting around 30,000 hectares (90 – 120 million trees) of broadleaf and conifer woodland each year.

The furore over the Countryfile tweet comes after warnings that a collapse in demand for venison from restaurants closed due to the pandemic was resulting in a boom in the number of wild deer in the UK, as only around 20 per cent of the annual cull was being carried out.

Though the tweet was up for almost 24 hours, it was deleted on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the BBC told The Independent: “Countryfile examines all sides of any rural issue and reflects a wide range of views on the programme over time - the tweet in question has been removed and was not related to any on air content.”