A NEW series of 'Create Comforts-style' animations on natural flood management have been launched using the voices of Cumbrians involved in groups protecting rural spaces.

The films are narrated by a cast of woodland creatures: Twiggy the Red Squirrel, Milligan the Hedgehog, Pat the Cow and Gill and Isla the Salmon will take the viewers on a educational journey through natural flood management. 

Pat the Cow explains how good quality soil absorbs waterPat the Cow explains how good quality soil absorbs water (Image: Cumbria Wildlife Trust) The four characters are voiced by Adam Briggs from the National Farmers Union, Annabel Rushton from Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Rachel Oakley from the National Trust, Catherine Evans from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency as well as additional voices from the EA, United Utilities and Cumbria Volunteer Service. 

  • Wood you believe it Twiggy the red squirrel, talks about the benefit trees provide in reducing the impacts of heavy rain, flooding, combating the effects of climate change and creating cool spaces during times of high temperatures.
  • Home and dry Milligan the hedgehog explains how we can alter our gardens and homes to limit the impacts that storms can have.
  • It doesn’t have to cost the earth Pat the cow talks about how changes in farming practice can make big differences to flooding whilst at the same time improving farms’ resilience to flood and drought.
  • Dam fine ideas Gill and Isla the salmon give us their view of how old weirs and dams heavily compromise their ability to migrate up our rivers and how removing these structures reduces the risk flooding, enhances the biodiversity and helps our rivers to become more natural.

The series has been developed to educate the public on natural flood preventionThe series has been developed to educate the public on natural flood prevention (Image: Cumbria Wildlife Trust) The shorts have been released by Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the Cumbria Innovative Flood Resilience project and were funded by the Environment Agency (EA). 

They were developed in collaboration with the EA, Westmorland and Furness Council, Royal Society Protection of Birds (RSPB), National Farmers Union (NFU), Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), and the National Trust.

READ MORE: Millom farmer swims to save sheep during flooding

The 'stop-motion' animated films have been produced this year as a sequel to the original award-winning films from 2022. 

It is a sequel to an award winning series released two years agoIt is a sequel to an award winning series released two years ago (Image: Cumbria Wildlife Trust) Director Cadi Catlow said: “Making this film was an absolute joy for me because it combined two of my personal passions - wildlife and research.

"Twiggy was built as a lifesize, anatomically correct puppet with a huge amount of attention to detail, right down to the number of toes on each foot, though her face was gently worked into a slightly cartoonish direction around the eyes and mouth to help with the animation.

"Her cheerful, expressive voice actually belongs to a real expert working in the field, and the character animator used this as a great foundation for adding bags of extra personality through physical performance."