Take your litter home, pleads 'Wasdale Womble'

A litter-picker dubbed the "Wasdale Womble" for her efforts to keep her home valley clean is calling on visitors to the Lake District to take their rubbish away with them.

Lindsay Buck, who has spent years cleaning up Cumbria, wants enforcement measures to be backed by better education on how to respect the countryside.

The 65-year-old, who got her nickname from the environmentally conscious children's book characters The Wombles, has this year made about 180 bike trips to remove rubbish around England's highest mountain.

Many communities in the Lake District complain that littering, illegal camping and bad parking blight the national park, which is visited by 18 million people annually.

Setting off from her home in the village of Gosforth, Buck makes the 16-mile (25km) round-trip to Scafell Pike and often returns with a full black sack of rubbish.

She said: "There's a lot more single-use stuff than we've ever had.

"I don't think anyone really needs to carry plastic water bottles, for example, but people are used to buying that kind of stuff and then they just leave it."

Westmorland and Furness Council and Cumberland Council have both recently announced an increase in the use of Public Space Protection Orders, which allow them to fine people up to £100 for causing environmental damage or engaging in anti-social behaviour.

Last month it was announced the Lake District National Park Authority would continue paying social media influencers for content encouraging visitors to respect the outdoors.

Buck, who received a BBC Make a Difference Award in 2024, is calling for the Countryside Code to be taught in schools.

She also wants to see public information campaigns to spread the message of "leave no trace".

"I think we have a lot of people who aren't used to this environment and we don't really do a very good job of educating people before they get here," she said.

"But it's not just the Lakes. Areas of countryside nationally have issues with litter and fly-camping.

"I think most people would do the right thing if they understood what that was.

"The outdoors are for everybody so we need to engage with people and then enforce if they're taking the mickey leaving huge amounts of stuff."

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