Wray Castle surrounded by new flowers to help wildlife

Throughout September, a team of staff and volunteers have been working to introduce 2,000 wildflowers into the surrounding ecosystem.

The move was done to join in with a campaign across the county focusing on taking action for nature and taking ownership of local wild areas.

The National Trust said: "Once established, they [the flowers] will provide essential habitat for wildlife, including bees, butterflies and other pollinators.

"The wildflowers are all species that thrive in the Lake District countryside, so are perfect for the surroundings and will support local biodiversity."

In partnership with Cumbria Wildlife Trust (CWT), all the plants were grown from seed at the Wildlife Trusts Gosling Sike nursery in Carlisle.

The seeds were grown at Gosling Sike (Image: Caroline Haine)

Caroline Haine, Senior Communications and Marketing Officer, added: "We will be planting 4000 altogether as part of this project.

"We’re just waiting for some of them to mature a little more at the nursery before we can put them in."

Some of the flowers put in place included wild oregano, ragged robin, red clover and cow parsley.

"As well as staff we worked with a group of volunteers from the Barrow in Furness MIND charity who are regular helpers at National Trust activities such as this," Mrs Haine explained.The wildflower nursery in Carlisle has been used to grow the 2,000 flowers, with 2,000 more to come (Image: Caroline Haine)

The campaign that prompted this exercise is called the Wildlife Trusts Wilder Cumbria community, an initiative to give people confidence to talk to their fellow residents about nature.

The CWT said: "It’s about connecting individuals, communities and organisations to create a network of people who are making change.

"We’ll work together to share resources and encourage more people to get involved."

The efforts were made available through donations to the National Trust Garden Fund, which can be found here.