Yorkshire's Habitats
From the peatlands of the moors and Pennines to the cliffs and beaches of the coast, Yorkshire has a rich and varied landscape supporting many habitats.
The rolling moors and dales within the national parks protect some of the largest areas of upland heath and blanket bog in Europe. Excellent examples of this habitat can be seen on our Nature Reserves at Fen Bog.
The vales and flatlands associated with our major rivers still support remnants of habitats which would have once been much more common. Species rich grasslands still occur at Lower Carr Farm, whilst Thorne and Hatfield moors holds the largest area of raised bog and mire habitat in Europe making the site internationally important.
On the Pennine slopes the rivers have cut deep valleys which, partly due to their inaccessibility, now hold extensive areas of ancient woodlands of oak and ash with fantastic displays of bluebell and wood anemone in the spring (go to Upper Park Wood). Impressive calcareous grasslands can be found on the southern slopes of the North York Moors and within the Wolds, whilst limestone pavements in the Pennines support rich botanical and entomological interest.
At the coast the varied geology creates scars and sea cliffs important to breeding sea birds and marine diversity, in the softer parts of the coast the constantly eroding and changing substrate of sand and mud is essential for both common and extremely rare invertebrates which in turn support major bird populations.
