LookWild: Crucial Weeks for Curlew in the Yorkshire Dales
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Date posted: 27/06/2025
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Time to read: 4 mins
From the windswept moors and meadows of the Yorkshire Dales comes the wild, bubbling call of the curlew. As breeding season reaches its peak, National Park staff and local farmers rally to protect one of the UK’s fastest-declining birds.
Species on the Brink
If you’ve wandered the open hills and moorland of the Yorkshire Dales in spring or early summer, chances are you’ve heard the unmistakable call of the curlew. This iconic wading bird, with its long down-curved bill and mottled brown plumage, is a symbol of the uplands. But it’s a species in peril, and the Dales are one of its last strongholds.
Curlew are one of the UK’s most rapidly declining breeding birds. Once a common sight across the countryside, their numbers have plummeted in recent decades due to changes in land use, habitat loss, and increased predation.
Now classed as a national conservation priority, the Eurasian curlew urgently needs targeted action to survive – and thrive – once again. It’s here, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, which plays such a crucial role in their future.
A Vital Refuge
Within the Yorkshire Dales, we are fortunate to hold nationally significant numbers of breeding curlew. These birds favour open landscapes such as hay meadows, rough pasture, and upland heath – habitats that are becoming increasingly rare elsewhere.
Here in the Dales, many local landowners, game keepers and farmers take pride in “their” curlew and are going above and beyond to protect these vulnerable ground-nesting birds.
Working Together
One of the innovative approaches underway involves close collaboration between the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and a group of local farmers.
Together, we are trialling conservation techniques, including nest fencing to protect eggs and chicks from predators, to better understand which land management practices are most effective at boosting curlew breeding success.
Fragile Weeks Ahead
This time of year is particularly sensitive. Some curlews are still incubating eggs, while others are shepherding small, fluffy chicks through the tall grasses. These young birds are incredibly vulnerable. Their nests are well camouflaged but exposed, and even brief disturbances can cause breeding attempts to fail.
This is where every visitor can make a difference.
How You Can Help to Take the Lead
If you’re out walking in the Dales, you can make a real difference:
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Keep dogs on a short lead and under close control
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Stick to public footpaths and avoid straying into nesting habitat
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Stay alert to signage during nesting season
A curious dog can easily flush a nesting bird or trample a hidden nest. A single disruption at the wrong moment can have devastating consequences for a species already under pressure.
Saving More Than a Bird
Protecting curlew isn’t just about preserving a species – it’s about safeguarding the soundscape, ecology, and character of our uplands.
With continued local support and mindful visitors, we can ensure that future generations will also get to hear the wild, spectacular call of the curlew echo across the moors.
Tabby McNicholas
Tabby is the Apprentice Media Officer at Yorkshire Dales National Park
It’s not every day you get to see one of our National Parks in biscuit form on @britishbakeoff!
Last night, The Great British Bake Off contestant @itsdoctoryan created a beautiful biscuit mosaic inspired by the Broads National Park, perfectly capturing the view at St Benet’s Mill, Thurne.
And it wasn’t just a feast for the eyes as the mosaic was made using treacle and ginger, honey and lemon, cocoa and malted milk, and pistachio biscuits.
Two great things combined: a beautiful National Park view and delicious biscuits. What could be better than that? 💚
Photo: Channel 4
#GBBO #BakeOff #NorfolkBroads @broadsnationalpark
You’ve likely heard of one - but what does it actually do?
Our 15 Parks wouldn’t be able to function without the authorities working behind the scenes to keep them running.
And each authority relies on people. People within the community, volunteers, staff and members. People that run businesses, or partner as organisations. People that are skilled and knowledgeable in a variety of areas from wildlife to accessibility.
Our National Parks are full of people and action, and it’s the Authorities that bring them all together.
💚
#NationalParksUK #NationalParkAuthorities
The Yorkshire Dales has one of the highest concentrations of caves and caverns of any of our 15 National Parks - a whole landscape hiding beneath the ground.
Our National Parks don’t just protect and preserve the landscapes we see every day. They also help care for historic and unique places discovered by our ancestors, like Ingleborough Cave and Gaping Gill, both of which were shrouded in myth and legend until they were explored by Victorians in the 1800s.
There’s so much more to our National Parks than meets the eye and sometimes, quite literally beneath the surface 👀
#YorkshireDales #GapingGill #Ingleborough
A week on from National Parks UK’s Big Volunteer Weekend, we’re still celebrating the people who make a difference across our National Parks.
Last weekend, hundreds of people came together across all 15 National Parks to give their time, share their skills and support our landscapes.
But volunteering in our National Parks doesn’t happen just one weekend a year. All year round, volunteers play an incredible variety of roles – from leading guided walks and supporting education, to conservation, planting and caring for our landscapes.
Every volunteer makes a valuable contribution to protecting our natural and cultural heritage. We simply couldn’t do what we do without you. 💚
So, to all our volunteers: thank you for your time, energy, enthusiasm and everything you bring to our National Parks.
If you know someone who volunteers in a National Park, help us spread the thanks by sharing this post. 🌿
#Volunteers #NationalParks #NationalParksUK
Mae’r Bele yn un o famaliaid prinnaf Cymru, ond mae eu niferoedd yn tyfu yn raddol. Mae hynny’n newyddion da i’n coetiroedd ac i’r Parciau Cenedlaethol, sy’n darparu rhai o’r cynefinoedd pwysicaf ar gyfer bywyd gwyllt ledled Cymru a Phrydain.
Ym Mannau Brycheiniog, mae’r prosiect adfer wedi gosod blychau nythu yn y coed, ac mae gwaith monitro wedi nodi presenoldeb y Bele, gan gynnwys grwpiau teuluol. Mae’r ffilm arbennig hon yn dangos un ohonynt ar waith. 🐾
Mae’n atgof hyfryd o’r hyn sy’n bosibl pan ddaw coetiroedd iach a gwaith cadwraeth arbenigol at ei gilydd i roi’r gofod sydd ei angen ar rywogaethau prin i wella.
Pine Martens are one of Wales’ rarest mammals, but they’re slowly making a comeback. That’s good news for our woodlands, and for National Parks, which provide some of the most important habitats for wildlife across Wales and Britain.
In Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons), the recovery project has installed treetop den boxes, with monitoring identifying pine martens, including family groups. This special footage shows one in action. 🐾
It’s a lovely reminder of what can happen when healthy woodlands and specialist conservation work come together to give rare species the space they need to recover.
#BreconBeacons #BannauBrycheiniog #PineMartins #Wales
It’s the Autumn Equinox 🍂
Our National Parks are always changing in time with the rhythm of nature, but this becomes particularly noticeable when autumn arrives.
Deer begin to rut, spiders’ cobwebs glisten in the fresh light, fungi become more prominent, and leaves begin to change colour.
What changes have you noticed so far? 🧡
#Autumn #AutumnEquinox #NationalParks
“You look after the National Park not for yourself, but for people who are coming, the ones who are following you.”
These are the words of Ron Wood, who has been volunteering for the Lake District National Park for over 60 years. His story reflects the vital role volunteering plays across our National Parks: keeping them thriving, communities invested, and people connected to and caring for our landscapes.
Over the decades, Ron’s incredible journey has seen him remain steadfast in his commitment through droughts, hand, foot and mouth disease, and the ever-changing rhythms of nature. Through it all, one thing has remained constant: his dedication to looking after the environment for those who come after him.
You can read Ron`s full story by clicking the link in our bio or learn more about volunteering at nationalparks.uk/volunteering 🔗
📸Photos by @lakedistrictnpa
#LakeDistrict #Volunteering #NationalParks
A quiet autumn transformation is beginning to take place. 🍁
Bracken gradually fades to burnt oranges. Mist sweeps across the horizon. Grasses brown and trees begin their annual shaking of leaves.
Our National Parks are never still. They are constantly changing and transforming with the seasons - a living rhythm of growth, decay, colour and renewal.
These four photographs perfectly capture our Parks on the cusp of autumn 📸
1. Dartmoor @ryanbrowningphotography
2. Lake District @jonny.gios
3. New Forest @acornsandscapes
4. Northumberland @calbrownphoto
#Autumn #NationalParksUK
