What's special - nature

The Yorkshire Dales National Park is one of the most important areas of the United Kingdom for its rich and diverse wildlife heritage and has the largest area of nationally and internationally important habitats of any National Park. This ranges from the wildflower rich hay meadows and pastures in the dale bottoms, through to the moorland fringe with its rush pastures so important for wading birds and the windswept uplands with their open heather moorland and blanket bog, to the unique limestone pavements.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park is home to a wide range of species. Many of these are rare or scarce nationally and the Yorkshire Dales National Park is the last stronghold for many plant and animal species.

Many species are adapted to certain conditions and these lead to a wide diversity of plants and animals in the Yorkshire Dales ranging from the lime-loving plants and invertebrates of the Limestone Country to the breeding birds of the moorland and moorland fringe.

The habitats and species found in the countryside are often closely linked with the underlying geology of the area along with natural processes and human influence.

Yorkshire Dales National Park’s most significant habitats and wildlife

• The Yorkshire Dales is renowned for its flower-rich hay meadows and pastures, which are the product of traditional, low intensity management of grazing land over many decades. These are now very scarce nationally, this being one of the few areas where they survive in any number.

• There is a direct link between the geology of the southern Dales and the range of rare limestone habitat found here. Its limestone country is of international biodiversity importance, including rare wet meadows and pastures, limestone pavement and limestone woodland and scrub.

• The extensive watersheds, notably in the north of the Park, contain upland heath, mainly heather moorland, mostly managed as grouse moor, and areas of blanket and raised bog. These habitats cover vast areas and contain a variety of plant species.

• Woodland is a scarce yet important component of the landscape and of its mosaic of habitats. Areas are generally small, representing remnants of former more extensive broadleaved woodland or later plantings. They are crucial to scenic beauty and contribute to the different character of each dale, whilst surviving areas of ancient woodland are of particularly high biodiversity value.

• In terms of species there are nationally important populations of breeding waders, Black Grouse, Yellow Wagtail and Skylark; rare and scarce lime-loving plants such as Bird’s Eye Primrose, Rigid Buckler Fern and Globeflower and Baneberry; and rare and scarce invertebrates such as the Northern Brown Argus butterfly and the Atlantic White-Clawed Crayfish.
  

Local Biodiversity Action Plan

Many habitats and species have been identified in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan website as priorities for conservation at a national and international level. Many more have also been identified as priorities at a local level in the Local Biodiversity Action Plan called Nature in the Dales.

Nature in the Dales sets out how all those who live, work, play and study in the National Park can act locally to make a vital contribution to the conservation of the Earth’s biodiversity.