Five Signs of Wildlife on a Moorland Ramble

Read the Moor Before You Walk It

Moorland can look empty from a car window: heather, gritstone, sky. But step onto the footpath, stop talking for five minutes, and it fills in. The Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors, Peak District, Cheviots and wider British uplands are full of quiet clues left by creatures that would rather you walked past. You do not need a hide or a telescope. You need soft ground, patience and an eye for the small and easily missed. Here are five signs to look for on a moorland ramble, with practical pointers for reading them without disturbing wildlife.

1. Curlew Calls and the Sound of Breeding Season

Few sounds say upland spring like the curlew: a rising, mournful "cur-lee", often followed by a bubbling display song over the moor. Between April and July, curlews, golden plover, lapwing and snipe breed on open ground across the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors. The curlew is easiest to identify by ear, even when the bird is a dot against cloud.

Listen at first light or before dusk, when the wind drops. If you hear the call, stop and scan low over the heather rather than heading towards it. Curlew nests are simple scrapes on the ground, well camouflaged and easily crushed. A distant pair is a gift; a close approach is a problem.

• Other sounds: snipe drumming, lapwing's pee-wit, golden plover's plaintive whistle.
• Best conditions: calm, dry mornings after rain, when sound travels.

2. Peat Tracks, Groughs and the Soft Ground Story

Peat is a notebook. After rain, soft ground around pools, groughs and hag edges holds the comings and goings of anything heavier than a vole. Look for slots: two neat toes for deer, a dog-like pad for fox, five toes with clear claw marks for badger. Mountain hares leave smaller, furrier prints and neat droppings; red deer stags may leave deep, splayed tracks in wet moss.

Be careful where you tread. Peat hags can be unstable, and erosion scars are fragile. Use existing paths, avoid widening bare patches, and keep dogs close during ground-nesting season. The pleasure is in reading, not following. A line of tracks crossing a muddy patch can tell you a fox passed at dawn, heading downhill towards the intake walls.

• Look for: prints in wet peat, mud around gateways, hair snagged on wire or low branches.
• Note: direction, stride length, fresh or rain-blurred.

3. Owl Pellets Beneath a Fence Post

Short-eared owls hunt the open moor in daylight, quartering low over rough grass. They often use fence posts, gateposts and stone walls as feeding perches, and beneath a regular post you may find pellets. These are not droppings. They are compact, cigar-shaped bundles of fur, bones and beetle cases, coughed up after a meal. Fresh pellets are dark and slightly shiny; old ones grey and dry.

Check beneath a post or wall corner before you sit for a brew. Tawny owls leave similar pellets at woodland edges; barn owls favour rough grassland and old buildings. Do not pull pellets apart in the field unless you have permission and a good reason. A photograph and a note of the location are enough. Leave the moor as you found it.

4. Feathers, Bones and the Quiet Leftovers

Not every sign is a track. A single feather caught in heather records a red grouse, curlew or raptor. Look at shape and pattern: grouse feathers are warm brown with fine barring; curlew feathers streaked and mottled; owl feathers soft, with a fringed edge that muffles flight. Bones and skulls turn up too, especially where foxes and raptors leave remains. A small skull with sharp incisors is likely a field vole; a bigger one with a ridge down the top may be a mole or stoat.

Resist the urge to pocket everything. Take a photo, note the grid reference if you use one, and leave the bone or feather where it lies. These leftovers feed beetles and other invertebrates, and they are part of the moor's slow recycling.

5. Heather Forms, Dust Baths and Wool in the Wind

On high tops, look for shallow, bowl-shaped hollows in dry soil or peat. These are dust baths, used by red grouse to keep plumage in condition. Nearby, you may find forms: flattened patches in heather or grass where mountain hares and rabbits rest, often with droppings close by. Tufts of wool snagged on heather or wire tell you sheep have passed, and sometimes reveal where they rubbed against a boundary stone.

These signs are subtle, but they reward slow walking. A dust bath, a form and a line of tracks together can sketch a whole morning in the life of the moor. Carry binoculars, a small notebook and a waterproof layer, and remember that the best hidden gems are not places but moments: a curlew call in mist, a pellet beneath a post, a print filling with rain. Walk lightly, look closely, and the uplands will keep showing you more.