Blog

New PhD Thesis Publication ‘Taking Care: The socio-cultural relationships between outdoor swimming and environmental health at Windermere’. By Taylor Butler-Eldridge, Human Geography (University of Exeter). Supervisors: Stewart Barr, Jen Lea, John Wylie and Jo Little. Examiners: Sarah Bell and Kate Moles. Funders: The Economic and Social Research Council and South West Doctoral Training Partnership. Ged […]

New Outdoor Swimming Research Bibliography Led by Rebecca Olive (RMIT), Reid Allen (City St George) with contributions from Taylor Butler-Eldridge (University of Exeter) and Sean Heath (Independent Scholar).  Access Bibliography Swimmable Cities This growing open-access resource, reviewed yearly, and designed to support researchers, practitioners, and advocates of public blue spaces. The bibliography is organised into […]

‘Swimming, confusion, and plenty of brews: Negotiating ambivalence within Windermere’s fragile waters’ My first peer reviewed journal article was published in Health & Place earlier this month – a huge milestone for the project.  Access Article The article forms part of a forthcoming Special Issue (The Blue Un/Commons: Tracing New Directions in Research on Outdoor […]

The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) invited me to contribute my initial research findings on the socio-cultural relationships between outdoor swimming and environmental health at Windermere on their new podcast, ‘Counting the Earth’. The podcast is titled, ‘A Deep Dive into Windermere’. It includes interviews with freshwater scientists at UKCEH, Eleanor Mackay and […]

Yesterday was my last day on placement as Communications and Engagement Assistant for the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA). The FBA are a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and charitable trust dedicated to understanding and conserving freshwaters across the globe. Based in Windermere, Lake District National Park – the FBA has been shaping and driving internationally significant research […]

The second Windermere Science Evening on Wednesday, 20th March 2024, at the Old Laundry Theatre in Bowness-on-Windermere was a huge success. We hosted guests in-house and online, with a combined audience of over 140 people. Thank you to our speakers, and to everyone who attended, shared the event, generated questions on the night, and provided […]

That’s a wrap. One hundred visits staggered across September 2022 – September 2023. Last Sunday morning marked the end of my twelve month fieldwork at Windermere. Thank you to the Rayrigg regulars for letting me join in your weekly dip during my final visit. There is no way I can summarise an entire year on […]

Environmental concerns at Windermere are again making local and national headlines, generating significant attention around sewage pollution and the seasonal fluctuations of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae).  I recognise this attention has created further adaptation, ambivalence, and avoidance within the swim communities, so I thought it may be useful to offer a snippet of my reflections explored […]

The summer in the Lake District National Park is a recurring pressure point marked clearly on the calendars by residents and the authorities. The warmer months present many social tensions as more visitors surge its narrow roads, small towns and villages, tired footpaths, and fragile waters. These pressures are also present at Windermere, housing many conflicting […]