HIDDEN treasures
River Dee,
MOUNTAIN HIGH There’s more to North Wales than Snowdonia. The Clwydian Hills and Dee Valley combine heather-clad terraces with wooded hills which look amazing right now… PIC T U R E S : T O M B AIL E Y
W O R D S : NIC K H ALLI S S E Y
W O R D S : NIC K H ALLI S S E Y
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P H O T O S : T O M B AIL E Y
MAGINE how difficult it would be to rename some of Britain’s most popular brands if the iconic animals associated with them were to die out. Where would confectioners be without penguins or lions to help them move millions of chocolate biscuits every year and what would the WWF do if the panda became extinct? Yet this is precisely the dilemma facing one of England’s most striking landscapes: in just a couple of years, it could be looking for a new logo. The Forest of Bowland supports one of England’s largest populations of hen harriers – large birds of prey which wheel and soar above the moorland and perform a spectacular ‘sky dance’ in late spring – in which they p upland icon exchange tokens of affection in mid-air to attract and then The hen harrier is emblematic of the Forest of bond with their chosen mate. Bowland – adorning the signs which welcome This distinctive raptor adorns the Forest’s official logo, visitors to this remote moorland wilderness. but unless current population trends pick up, the hen harrier could suffer a worse fate than the red kite, osprey and peregrine – all of which were persecuted to the brink of extinction until conservationists stepped in to save them. u
56 Country Walking october 2014