Wood You Believe It has been officially selected as part of the prestigious Manchester Animation Festival. The short film is one of a series of four engaging and informative Creature Comforts-style animations created to show how natural flood management can help protect homes, businesses and farms and assist in the fight against climate change. 

The stop-motion animated films were produced as a sequel to the original award-winning films from 2022. They’re the result of an exciting collaboration between Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Cumbria Innovative Flood Resilience (CiFR). This project is funded by the Environment Agency’s £200m Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme (FCIP), which aims to find better ways of reducing the impacts of flooding to communities.

The announcement comes during the Environment Agency’s Flood Action Week, which is encouraging millions across the country to get flood ready ahead of winter – such as by signing up for flood warnings or preparing a flood plan. 

Wood You Believe It features Twiggy, a Cumbrian red squirrel, as our guide. She explains the incredible range of benefits that trees provide in reducing the impacts of flooding, drought and heat, as well as their other amazing advantages for wildlife and in trapping and storing carbon. It’s voiced by local RSPB expert Annabel Rushton who works at Haweswater Nature Reserve.

The Cumbrian landscape is also one the stars of the films, with a great deal of time and skill being used to represent the iconic landscape both in the 2D and 3D animations: some of the animators even climbed up hills to have a closer look at dry stone walls to ensure their accuracy. Local animals and breeds have been used to help reinforce the connection.

All the voiceovers for the films were done by local people working in various sectors including flood reduction, conservation, farming and water quality, and all showcase natural flood management methods being done right here in Cumbria.

National flood management is a catch-all term for a variety of landscaping techniques used to hold water back during flood events, which reduce the impact downstream on communities and infrastructure such as bridges. The films demonstrate how these techniques can reduce the impact of climate change and improve water quality.

David Kennedy from the Environment Agency (and voice of Gregory the Woodpecker) says: “It’s tremendous that Wood You Believe It has been selected for the prestigious Manchester Animation Festival. Whilst the film is aimed at raising awareness of how our amazing natural world can help us combat the effects of flooding and climate change, it’s really brilliant that it’s been recognised for the quality of the animation and the storytelling as well. This is testament to the importance of that message and to the truly incredible talent that brought the story to life - this team of animators and creatives is world-class!”

Cadi Catlow, Director of Wood You Believe It, said: “Making this film was an absolute joy for me because it combined two of my personal passions - wildlife and research! Twiggy the Red Squirrel was built as a life-sized, anatomically-correct puppet with a huge amount of attention to detail … 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.

“The filming … was done by a small crew of fabulous people, all committed to sharing the important information around flooding, climate and protecting our natural habitats for future generations. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it!”

Andrew Eden, FCIP Programme Executive for the Environment Agency, said: “It’s fantastic to see these films engaging people on flood risk in new ways. You can find out more about this project and our other Flood Coastal Innovation Programmes projects in our mid-programme report here £200 million flood and coastal innovation programmes: mid-programme report - GOV.UK

Graham Jackson-Pitt, Interim Director of Nature Recovery at Cumbria Wildlife Trust said: "Congratulations to the filmmakers of Wood You Believe It for this great accolade: being selected for Manchester Animation Festival will bring the benefits of natural flood management to a much wider audience. Cumbria Wildlife Trust is working hard with local landowners, farmers and partners across Cumbria to make our landscape more resilient to the impacts of the climate crisis, including flooding and drought."

Manchester Animation Festival takes place from 9-13 November 2025.

Flood Action Week, running this year from 13-19 October, is the Environment Agency’s annual campaign to encourage people to prepare for flooding by taking proactive steps such as knowing their flood risk, preparing a flood plan, and signing up for flood warnings.