In April the heathlands are full of the sounds of calling woodlark in the day, and later on in the summer the churrs of nightjar at dusk.
In the colder months, birds of prey head south from their breeding grounds in the north of Britain to over-winter on lowland heaths. Hen harriers and merlin can be seen hunting across the plateaux, as well as peregrine falcons and migrant great grey shrikes.
Our heathlands are home to five of Britain's six native reptiles. Adders are a common sight across the spring and summer, basking under gorse bushes in the morning sunshine.
The heathlands are awash with butterflies, with green hairstreaks flittering about on the gorse bushes in May and silver studded blues on the heather in July.
Our bogs and pools sustain vast populations of breeding damselflies and dragonflies.