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