Wild Ingleborough Project

A partnership formed between Natural England’s Ingleborough National Nature Reserve team, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, The University of Leeds, UBoC, The Woodland Trust and WWF, is furthering the restoration of wildlife habitats around Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The land around Ingleborough has suffered loss of diversity over many years, but this partnership brings landscape-scale restoration of wildlife from the valley floor to the top of the mountain. We are working to aid nature’s recovery in this part of North Yorkshire by supporting low intensity farming and helping wildlife to be more resilient in the face of the climate emergency and other pressures.

The team have been working with local people and visitors to the Dales from the outset to involve them in the development of the project, seeking to support a thriving local economy, based on restorative farming to enhance local biodiversity, and nature tourism. The Ingleborough landscape is already inspirational and is visited by many people. The Wild Ingleborough project supports responsible access and enables people to explore the natural environment and get closer to nature.

Working with neighbouring landowners, farmers and communities, the partners are sharing skills and knowledge in land management and connecting existing nature reserves to create a larger area of land that is managed in a way that allows wildlife to thrive. Large-scale habitat restoration benefits wildlife but also people, through carbon capture, flood reduction, job creation and improving both water quality and soil health.

Some areas are seeing woodland creation through planting native trees and in other areas the vegetation is being allowed to regenerate naturally. Grazing animals, especially cattle, are used to create a patchwork of different habitats and with time, scattered trees and shrubs may grow on the upper slopes of the mountain.

Scientific monitoring at the site is led by researchers from UBoC and the University of Leeds, to track changes in the landscape over time and help to build an evidence base for the benefits of restoration. UBoC’s Professor Dominick Spracklen, who researches Wild Ingleborough, said: “We have embeded monitoring in the project from the outset, allowing us to demonstrate the benefits of Wild Ingleborough for nature, climate and people.”

The importance of working with local people will continue to be crucial as we explore different options for a positive vision of our landscapes, with people, climate and nature at its heart.

For updates visit wildingleborough.com, keep an eye out on twitter, or email us at info@uboc.co.uk