People walking with their dogs in the
Yorkshire Dales National Park are being urged to take steps that help prevent disturbing ground nesting birds.
Dog owners are being urged to keep their pets on a lead when walking in the park over the next few months.
‘Disturbance can mean that adult birds flee the nest, leaving eggs to get cold or, later, leaving newly-born hatchlings exposed to the elements and to predators,’ said Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s ranger services manager Alan Hulme.
A free pocket-sized leaflet has been produced by the YDNPA to give descriptions of the appearance, calls and favoured habitat of the national park’s five main ground nesting bird species – skylarks, lapwings, red grouse, oystercatchers and curlews.
‘Ground Nesting Birds – the Big Five in the Yorkshire Dales National Park’ is available at national park centres and park information points.
‘The message is that dogs and birds don’t mix and we hope the leaflet will help people to identify the birds and the places they are likely to be as they raise their chicks over the next few months,’ said Malcolm Petyt, the YDNPA’s member champion for recreation management.
No comments have been made.