Conservation charity Friends of the Lake District is offering outdoor instructors a chance to learn more about Cumbria’s upland ecology, and the impacts that outdoor users have on Lakeland's landscape and habitats, on a series of free sessions this spring and summer.

The Leaders’ Landscape Training programme for 2015 is aimed at people who lead groups climbing, hill-walking, ghyll scrambling or kayaking, whether they be freelance instructors, mountain guides or outdoor centre staff.

Ruth Kirk, Friends of the Lake District Project Officer and programme organiser said:

'Last year’s training sessions were hugely popular with 100% of attendees saying they would recommend them to other outdoor practitioners and 100% saying they would pass on what they had learned to the people they work with. Our Leaders’ Landscape Training helps outdoor leaders to look at their ‘office space’ with a heightened awareness to think and work differently, to enjoy, protect and respect our beautiful but surprisingly fragile upland landscapes.'

The training sessions running from April to September include courses on woodland management, red squirrel conservation, upland archaeology, upland path repair and maintenance, tree identification, limestone pavement geology, upland woodland and scrub restoration, mining history in the Coppermines Valley and non-native invasive species impacts and control. There is also the chance to get out with the National Park Lake Rangers on Windermere to learn at first-hand about lake recreation management.

Sessions are free to attend and will be delivered in partnership with Friends of the Lake District and organisations including the National Trust, Lake District National Park, Woodland Trust and Grasmere Red Squirrel Group. The training is also accredited by Mountain Training Association as continuous professional development through which members can accrue points.

For more details visit The FLD website or contact Ruth Kirk by email