Revealing Hidden Water: The North Pennines National Landscape

The North Pennines National Landscape covers 2,369 km² of upland England, and until recently, nobody had a complete picture of its open water. For the first mission of Natural England’s Citizen Science Local Pilots project, the National Landscape team needed detailed records of every pool, tarn and seasonal water body they managed. Not just for nature recovery planning, but to guide environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling – a technique that identifies which animal species have been present in an area by analysing traces left behind in water.

Through Deep Time, citizen scientists worked together to map these hidden features using satellite imagery, LiDAR and historic maps. By identifying the remains of leats, reservoirs and water channels, participants helped to reconstruct the infrastructure that once powered one of Britain’s most important mining landscapes, adding new knowledge to the archaeological record and helping researchers to better understand how people engineered water across this remote upland environment.

“I learnt something new by the existence of eDNA, I had never heard of eDNA until this project. Apart from that, feeling part of a team has made me feel great in myself.” – James, 45–54, unemployed