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Moorlands

  

Approximately one third of the AONB is moorland. Some of the best for bird watching are:

  • Around Leighton Reservoir, approximately five miles west of Masham on the road through Fearby/Healey towards Lofthouse. 
  • The moorland around the village of Greenhow, which is three miles west of Pateley Bridge on the B6265. 
  • On Dallowgill moor,  four miles north of Pateley Bridge on the road to Kirkby Malzeard - there are plenty of opportunities to watch waders displaying during the breeding season.
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.

 Photo: Red Grouse in heather courtesy of RSPB Images

 

Photo: Lapwing courtesy of RSPB Images