The North Pennines and Dales Priority Landscape

Our vision for this area is a rich and diverse landscape filled with the sound of bubbling Black Grouse and Curlews, valued and cared for by generations of farmers, landowners and communities. 

Our Priority Landscape is home to RSPB Geltsdale nature reserve, an incredibly important and special place, where you’ll find upland birds like Black Grouse, Curlews and Hen Harriers.  

The RSPB has been working for over 25 years to promote nature-friendly farming in the Priority Landscape, and we are proactively working with others to deliver for nature recovery on a landscape scale.  

The North Pennines and Dales Priority Landscape spans over 450,000ha (hectares) of English upland habitats. It includes the entirety of the North Pennines National Landscape, part of Northumberland National Park and most of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The area benefits from an extensive site protection network, giving it national and international importance for its species and habitats. The North Pennine Moors Special Protection Area (SPA), for example, is notified for Golden Plovers, Merlins, Peregrine Falcons and Hen Harriers, and qualifying numbers of breeding Curlews. 

The area holds the entirety of the English Black Grouse population and provides potential links to Scottish populations. It’s also one of the most important areas in the UK for breeding waders. 

We are prioritising this landscape because it’s key to the successful conservation of many priority species including Curlews and Black Grouse.  

We’re already involved in strong partnership projects and through the Priority Landscape programme, we will continue to expand our positive engagement work. This will enable us to deliver joined up, high-quality habitat at a large scale across the landscape.

1. Be known and visible in the Priority Landscape. 

2. Showcase our work on nature reserves. 

3. Work on species that the RSPB has defined as priorities, for example Curlews and Black Grouse. 

4. Work with farmers to help support nature-friendly farming. 

5. Build good partnerships to deliver nature recovery at scale. 

6. Intervene to prevent damaging activities which could negatively impact key habitats and species. 

• Curlews and Black Grouse conservation are important to our core work. This can be demonstrated by our efforts at RSPB Geltsdale and recently with the Curlew Life Project. 

• Supporting High Nature Value Farming through farmer advice and bird monitoring has always been a focus of ours. Our team works directly with farmers to help develop and support high-quality agri-environment schemes.  

• This work has been boosted by our involvement in a new Landscape Connections Project, which focusses on farm clusters in each of the four river catchments in the North Pennines National Landscape. It aims to make the farms more financially resilient and find ways to maximise nature on the land. 

• We’re actively trying to make new connections with farmers and landowners. A recent example is through our work on a private grouse moor estate, known as High Helbeck, where we’ve worked in partnership to help nature on a landscape scale. 

Watch this page for updates and visit some of the external websites listed below. You can also get involved in bird survey work to support our monitoring programme and nature conservation efforts in this special landscape. For more information, please contact Conservation Officer Chris Jones via email at chrisw.jones@rspb.org.uk

We work with a range of partners including farmers and landowners, the North Pennines National Landscape, Yorkshire Dales National Park, Northumberland National Park, Natural England, Woodland Trust, Local Rivers Trusts and the Farmer Network.

• High Value Nature Farming
• Helping nature to restore itself - bringing a river back to life at RSPB Geltsdale
• Trees and woodlands in the North Pennines National Landscape
• Curlew Custodians – practical tips for farmers
• South Tyne Holistic Water Management Project