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Things to look out for in the Yorkshire Dales

Family on a working holiday in autumn at Upper Wharfedale, Yorkshire
Family on a working holiday in autumn at Upper Wharfedale | © National Trust Images/Peter Katic

The Yorkshire Dales are a great place to relax and explore the outdoors. Discover rolling countryside with steep-sided valleys, vast heather-covered moorland hilltops and a patchwork of dry stone walls and barns.

Upper Wharfedale

As well as traditional hardy breeds of sheep and cattle roaming the pastures, this diverse landscape also offers a home to many plants and animals.

Autumn colour sweeps through the Dale. The woods and bracken banks vary from vivid yellows to rusty reds and everything in between. Nuts and berries from trees and shrubs are harvested by birds like blackbirds, thrush, and redwing, while small mammals such as squirrels now build up underground larders to be used when winter times get hard. This time of year sees the explosion of fungi with grassland species like waxcaps and inkcaps and woodland varieties like amethyst dissever, chicken of the woods and the deadly fly Agaric.

Redmire Wood showing autumn colours with sheep grazing in the foreground
Autumn colour at Redmire Wood | © National Trust Images/Peter Katic

Hudswell Woods

Close to the historical market town of Richmond and with the River Swale rushing alongside, you will find picturesque scenery with hints of a varied history.

The woods are a rich mosaic of autumn colour, the russet orange of beech trees, the warm browns of oak, and the yellows of lime, ash, wych elm and hazel. Fungi of every shape, colour and size push through the leaf litter and cling to dead wood. Walking at this time of year you might see fungi species like chicken of the woods, dead man’s fingers, candle snuff fungus, dryad saddle and jelly ear. Look out for birds like fieldfares and redwings eating hawthorn berries (haws) and holly berries.

Janet's Foss wetland site on the Malham Tarn Estate in the Yorkshire Dales in autumn
Janet's Foss wetland site on the Malham Tarn Estate in autumn | © National Trust Images/Michael Caldwell

Malham Tarn

The boardwalk at Malham Tarn weaves its way through the National Nature Reserve, a unique and special place with interesting wildlife. Pause on this easy stroll to appreciate the quiet and listen for the songs of our feathered friends. You might even spot the Exmoor ponies grazing in the distance.

During autumn the greens of the summer are slowly replaced by a stunning array of rustic browns, golds and reds. If you're quiet, you may see the roe deer in the woods around Malham Tarn or a heron on the banks of a stream.

The waterfall at Janet’s Foss is a magical place to visit, and legend has it that Janet (or Jennet) the fairy queen lives in the cave behind the waterfall, or foss.

The limestone pavement above Malham Cove is well worth the climb up over 300 stone steps. On top you’ll be rewarded with panoramic views but also the unusual jigsaw of clints (blocks of stone) and grykes (the gaps) and the ferns and flowers living in this distinct habitat.

Birds and bird watching

Cowside looking north to Darnbrook Fell. Drystone walls run across the valley dividing up the fields
Cowside looking north to Darnbrook Fell | © National Trust Images/Joe Cornish

Moorland

Fell tops in the Dales generally don't have a lot of trees and are usually either grazed rough pasture, blanket bog or heather moorland. These habitats can be very quiet for birds with meadow pipit being the most frequent sighting. The mournful call of golden plover is certainly a possibility and on Darnbrook Fell red grouse are often found in reasonable numbers. Moorland like this can also support merlin and short-eared owl.

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Two walkers on a bridge crossing the River Wharfe at Yockenthwaite

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