Two complementary businesses that are nurturing nature

However, it might not be immediately obvious just how much work goes into maintaining many of these ‘natural’ landscapes.  

Far from being left to run wild, the meadows, woodlands and wetlands require regular human intervention and management. 

In Cumbria, environmental contractor OpenSpace are specialists in preserving and restoring these habitats, while its sister business Cumbria Wildflowers supplies the native plants required for such projects. 

Jonny and Andrea Rook own and run both companies.  

Jonny trained in ecology and environmental practice before working for English Nature in Cumbria for 12 years, mainly on 26 national nature reserves.  

His time also included working as natterjack toad and red squirrel officer across the country. 

However, as contractors were increasingly being engaged to do work for English Nature, Jonny found himself moving more and more into deskbound project management. 

Wanting to remain hands-on, he set up OpenSpace with Andrea in 2003 as a nature conservation company with both habitat contracting and ecological consultancy.  

The vision of the business was to offer consultancy, scientific advice and a habitat restoration service drawing on Jonny’s wide experience of managing habitats and species. Andrea, who worked in the rail industry before setting up the business, oversees the business admin such as human resources, training and procurement for its eight staff. 

The majority of OpenSpaces’ projects involve working directly for nature conservation organisations who carry out habitat restoration work directly funded by government money or through grants.  

OpenSpace's projects include remarkable endeavours like re-meandering the River Wasdale Beck, near Shap.  

The beck had been straightened to improve the land for agricultural use and as such, the biodiversity of the river had become reduced. OpenSpace worked to restore its bends, pools, riffles and point bar features to create suitable habitat for spawning fish. 

OpenSpace’s machines are modified to run using bio-oils and wide tracks to minimise the environmental impact by avoiding bogging down on wet ground.  

The team, who are all trained in ecology, focus on ensuring that their work not only preserves but enhances biodiversity.  

About a fifth of OpenSpace’s operations involve carrying out mitigation work in the wake of major infrastructure projects. 
“OpenSpace work with large infrastructure companies, such as wind farms and new road companies to find solutions to minimise or offset their environmental impact,” says Jonny. 

“We restore the temporary damage or work off site on what’s known as ‘compensation land’.” 

For example, OpenSpace carried out habitat restoration for reptiles on the extension of the M74 gap between England and Scotland. The work involved translocating 60 common lizards and 30 adders to a newly created reptile friendly site.  
More recently it has been working with United Utilities’ Thirlmere Pipeline in Cumbria.   
This involved reinstating the pipeline by over sowing with native wildflowers and undertaking peatland and wetland restoration.  
OpenSpace also have many years of experience working in the wind farm and surface coal mine sectors with clients including Scottish Power, EDF and Scottish Coal. 
Cumbria Wildflowers originally began in 2007 as a way of supplying the plants OpenSpace needed for its own projects.  
It now sells native wildflowers to organisations such as the RSPB and the National Trust, as well as to private landowners.  
"It was always designed at the start to facilitate OpenSpace for all the habitat restoration work that we do,” says Jonny. 
“From that it's grown into something which stands on its own two feet. We supply clients around the country and various habitat restoration projects.” 
He says the number of private landowner customers is growing as there is an increasing drive for farmers to carry out environmental and conservation work as part of changes to government funding for agriculture.  
Cumbria Wildflowers has used peat-free compost from the very beginning, just one of a range of measures the company takes to be as sustainable as possible.  
"We have solar panels, we rainwater harvest, we have our own biodigester that feeds into two reed beds before it goes into the water courses, we compost ourselves, we do a whole range of things to minimise our waste and minimise our impact,” says Jonny.  
"That comes at a financial cost to the business, but it does reduce our impact on the planet's resources." 
The company also runs community projects, including a wildflower and tree planting project with Wiggonby School, near Wigton, earlier this year. 
Further afield, it has worked on sustainable agricultural projects with farmers in Burkina Faso and Madagascar. 
Jonny says he also wants the business to play its part in educating the general public about conservation work, looking after nature and planting wildflowers. 
"Most people think wildlife conservation equals trees and that's it," he says. 
“However, to support a wider biodiversity we need to create meadows, grasslands, wetlands and much more. Our UK landscape needs to be a mosaic of natural habitats and managed habitats, farmland and urban.  
"In the UK, most of them have some sort of man-induced impact. 
"We've got into a funny way of thinking, that creating biodiversity and being wildlife friendly means no man inputs or it means growing trees. 
"That's probably the area where we try to get that message out. There are definitely some benefits in letting areas go wild, but to get more diverse habitats you've got to manage the land through habitat restoration or management techniques.” 
Jonny says the best way to combat the many pressures on the environment and wildlife in the UK is to help people understand more about how the natural world works and how we can live and work sustainably.