Curlew Awareness Day

In the last 25 years alone (1995-2020) the UK has lost nearly 50% of breeding curlew – with Wales, Northern Ireland and southern lowland England now having almost no breeding curlew left at all. Since the UK is home to about 25% of the entire population of Eurasian curlew, any decline threatens curlew globally, which … Read more

Call to MPs and Party Leaders

With 2024 marking the 75th anniversary of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, along with the promise of Westminster election, Campaign for National Parks (CNP), backed by all the National Park Societies of England (of which Friends of the Dales is one), have written to all party leaders in England to … Read more

Yorkshire Dales Nature Recovery Plan

We were pleased to see the draft Nature Recovery Plan presented to the National Park Authority at their meeting in September. We have written to David Butterworth, CEO to compliment his staff for their hard work in putting this important document together. We’ve also highlighted areas where the draft plan could be strengthened, for example … Read more

Need for a properly funded Dales National Park bus service*

Bus

Say it is Sunday and you decide to visit the Yorkshire Dales National Park. After a week of hard work you are looking forward to fresh air, quiet, a bracing walk and that uplift of being out in nature. You’ll catch the bus – but you discover that DalesBus is the only service available to … Read more

October is Free Wills Month

hill and cotton grass

October is Free Wills Month, which means that members of the public aged 55 and over have the opportunity to have their simple Wills written or updated free of charge, using participating solicitors in locations across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. If you, like us, love the Yorkshire Dales then we ask you to please … Read more

Barn Conversion Proposals Threaten National Parks

Dilapidated barn in a field.

We strongly oppose the proposals to relax planning rules for the conversion of existing agricultural buildings, especially barns, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. With its hundreds of field barns making a unique contribution to the special and historic landscapes of the national park, these proposals would inevitably negatively impact sustainability objectives and have an adverse impact on … Read more

Creative Campaigning in the Dales

young people stood in a field

We recently launched Creative Campaigners, a new volunteer network for people aged 20-30 who live locally and are interested in actively and creatively contributing to our environmental campaigns. The launch day was held at the end of July in Malham, focussed around a bespoke guided tour of Hill Top Farm with indoor sessions at Malham … Read more

Team Building with a Conscience

Friends of the Dales staff, trustees and volunteers recently came together for a day to remove some 2000 redundant plastic tree shelters from a private woodland near Long Preston in the Yorkshire Dales. A worthy (and wet!) endeavour, since without radical changes to the way we plant trees, the two billion plastic shelters that are … Read more

Wilf Fenten

man smiling in a garden

It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of the recent and sudden passing of one of our long standing Trustees and Vice Chair, Wilf Fenten. In his five years service as Trustee and highly regarded Chair of our Policy and Planning committee, Wilf brought a huge wealth of knowledge, experience and enthusiasm … Read more