Wildlife On Moor And Dale cultural features
The wildness of the Yorkshire landscape attracts a variety of birds and encourages carpets of springtime flowers.
Birds and animals in Yorkshire
Among the region’s varied wildlife, the red grouse, target of the sporting shooters, must hold pride of place. A bird that is endemic to Britain, it is also the only bird that remains on the open moor in winter. Its coarse yet cheerful call, uttered as it flies over the heather and often written as “go-back, go-back, go-back”, is the archetypal sound of the North York Moors. In recent years its numbers have declined.
In spring the grouse is joined by snipe, plover and golden plover. The moors are also home to England’s largest, though modest, populations of merlins. The Swainby moors are one of the strongholds of this small, darting hawk. Also seen on occasion is the hen harrier, a truly magnificent bird with an enormous wingspan that hunts by flying low over the heather and suddenly swooping sideways. Upland waders – curlews, redshanks, dunlins – fare best on the well-maintained grouse moors.
The Dales support a good population of dippers, with some kingfishers and, in spring and summer, grey wagtails and sandpipers. Mature woodland is home to green and greater spotted woodpeckers and flycatchers, while in the forest plantations of the moors are crossbills and nightjars.
Roe deer and, to a lesser extent, red and fallow deer can be found where there is woodland cover, and there are sika deer in Studley Royal, part of Fountains Abbey estate. Mink, introduced via Lancashire fur farms, have spread through the area, but in the rivers, otters are scarce. Crow Wood, home of the Moors Centre, has a bird hide and feeding station where visitors can observe woodland species such as goldfinches, nuthatches and green woodpeckers.
Flora of the moors and dales
Several flower species reach their northern or southern limit on the moors. On Levisham Moor are two arctic-alpine species at the edge of their range – chickweed wintergreen and dwarf cornel, a kind of miniature dogwood. The early purple orchid shows up against the limestone of the Dales and the yellow mountain pansy is found in many areas. In the moist wooded ravines, such as Gunnerside Gill in Swaledale, are the star-shaped flowers of the spring sandwort.
In Kirkdale the rare May lily blossoms on its only native site in Britain. But while other common species, such as globeflower and bird’s-eye primrose, are also found, it is perhaps the more familiar flowers that give most delight. The Farndale daffodils are famous, and there are carpets of bluebells at Glaisdale, Hasty Bank near Stokesley and other places. Nowhere are snowdrops prettier than on the banks of Mulgrave Old Castle, Sandsend. And on early-spring walks in the Forge Valley, or through the woods at Sunnington, popular flowers such as wood anemone, wood sorrel, violet and primrose, as well as shyer species like early purple orchid, brush the boots at almost every step.
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