Nidderdale AONB

Many of these areas are covered by the right of access to open country and can be explored on foot. However please note that they sensitive to disturbance. Visit the 'Open Access'  section of this website for further details.

 

The AONB's moorlands are of international importance for their blanket bog and heather moorland communities, and for their breeding bird populations - including merlin, golden plover, snipe, curlew, redshank, short-eared owl and peregrine - and they form parts of the North Pennines Special Protection Area. There are records of Dottrel on the highest moorland plateaux and alongside moorland gills increasingly rare species like ring ouzel are frequent summer visitors. Other birds common during the breeding season include skylark and meadow pipit whose calls, together with those of waders like snipe, curlew, lapwing and redshank, make a fine spring day in the AONB unforgettable.