Читать книгу Short walks in the Yorkshire Dales - Collins Maps - Страница 9

Wildlife habitats follow closely-defined zonal limits; on the high tops of Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent, habitats are restricted to mosses and a little grass with alpine flowers, such as purple saxifrage (saxifraga oppositifolia), living in tiny crevices and ledges on the limestone crags. Mountains with broader summits, such as Whernside, are able to support coarse grasses, with heather and bilberry dominating the grouse moors further south. Meadow pipits and ring ouzels frequent the higher slopes and the dipper follows streams high on the fell. Birds of prey such as kestrels, merlins and buzzards, as well as the ubiquitous crow, can be found on most of the quieter fells. Mountain hares are often seen gambolling on the open hillsides. Even though standing water is rare on the normally dry cols and ridges, sea-birds, such as blackheaded gulls, nest far from their ‘official’ home. For centuries, the land below the 1,700 foot (520m) contour, has been improved for sheep grazing and true native grasses and rushes will only be found in areas of poor husbandry and under-grazing. Mountain pansy (viola lutea), rock rose (helianthemum chamaecistus) and thyme (thymus serpyllum), grow on sparse limestone soils. Limestone pavements are cracked and fissured by ‘grikes’ where the shade-loving plants such as dog’s mercury (mercuriatis perennis) and hart’s tongue fern (phyllitis scolopendi) are the remains of ground cover of native ash woods which covered the Dales before the last Ice Age.

Where the riverbanks are uncultivated, natural woodland takes advantage of the rich damp soil and woodland flowers grow in profusion. Many of the rivers have excellent fish stocks but the best by far are the Lune and Ribble and their tributaries. Both main rivers manage to enter the Irish Sea relatively unpolluted and, as a result, are visited by migrant trout and spawning salmon.