Vote for your favourite wildlife spot in Yorkshire and Humberside

Our experts share their favourite places for wildlife in Yorkshire and Humberside – vote for the one you love the most!

Published: December 15, 2022 at 10:04 am

To celebrate BBC Wildlife magazine's 60th birthday, we asked 60 people from our wonderful network of writers, presenters, photographers and conservationists to share their favourite places in the UK for wildlife, including Yorkshire and Humberside.

Beautiful Yorkshire and neighbouring Humberside are famous for the untamed beauty of their moors, hills and dales, all teaming with wildlife.

Vote for the one you love the most from the list below.

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Our favourite wildlife destinations in Yorkshire and Humberside

Stanage Edge, Peak District

Stanage Edge is a dramatic Gristone Rock escarpment in the Derbyshire Peak District. It is a wild and rugged place over 2 kilometres in length and is very popular with walkers and climbers. This picture shows the Triangulation Point at High Neb which is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying

I have lived on the edge of the Peak District my whole life, and have come to know this beautiful National Park intimately. Stanage Edge in particular has always held a strong allure, from my days climbing this stunning crag to exploring the moors and discovering its diverse range of wildlife. I have spent over two decades photographing the red grouse that frequent the moorland plateau and have had some unforgettable encounters with wildlife. I will never forget the sight of a merlin darting low over the heather in pursuit of an unsuspecting weasel! Stanage looks particularly beautiful in winter, laden with frost or a fresh covering of snow, but my favourite time of year is August, when the heather blooms and transforms the moors into a carpet of intense pink and purple hues. The haunting sounds of curlew echo around the crags, and migrants such as wheatear and stonechat cling to the heather and flitting between gritstone boulders. I could never tire of Stanage Edge.

Ben Hall, photographer

Rodley Nature Reserve, Leeds

Sunset at Rodley Nature Reserve. © Getty Images

Nestled between Horsforth and the River Aire, Rodley is a dragonfly and damselfly hotspot on the edge of the city. At least 18 species have been recorded here, with jewels such as banded demoiselle, emperor and four-spotted chaser

Pam Taylor, trustee of British Dragonfly Society

Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire

© Getty Images

I love a seabird – and you can’t beat a gathering of ocean wanderers at breeding time. My favourite spot for this spring spectacle is RSPB Bempton Cliffs, where clifftop paths get you up-close to gannets, and viewing platforms provide a glimpse of thousands of nesting guillemots and razorbills on the cliff-face. It’s a full-on assault of the senses!

Sheena Harvey, editor of BBC Wildlife, 2015-2019

Hackfall, Yorkshire Dales

© David Rodway

I’ll never forget my first visit to Hackfall – a wooded gorge full of crumbling ruins – in 1989. I took in the views of the North York Moors, I wandered amid the ferns of Grewelthorpe Beck and I walked the River Ure, the haunt of kingfishers and dippers. I’ve explored it all now, but it’s a place I could never tire of.

Mark Feather, UK estate manager at the Woodland Trust

Goredale Scar, Yorkshire Dales National Park

© Getty Images

There are places you go for grand spectacle, and others where the wonder is in microcosms. The Yorkshire Dales offers superlatives of both. Then there are the scars – enormous, water-worn ravines with a distinctly Middle Earth vibe. Perhaps the most epic of these is Goredale, with two cascading waterfalls, tenacious yews, carpets of luxuriant mosses and one of the most thrilling public footpaths in England. As you explore, listen and look out for curlews, lapwings, golden plovers, peregrines and brown hares.

Amy-Jane Beer, naturalist and author

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