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Haworth - Nature
What to do outdoors in Haworth
Discover the amazing wildlife of Haworth.
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KWVR
Discover Haworth's incredible outdoors and nature. The village is surrounded by miles of beautiful natural landscapes, vibrant wildlife and extensive moorland. The area is mostly open heather moorland, which is abundant with bilberries during summer.
Heather
The iconic British moorlands of Wuthering Heights may seem bleak quite sparsely populated with wildlife. However, the cheery song of skylarks is ubiquitous as is that of the curlew and Lapwing.
At first glance the moorland may look like one habitat It's actually a whole patchwork of different types of vegetation – wet heath, dry heath, blanket bog, and more – all mixed together and each with its own characteristic plants and moorland grasses.
The main habitats on the moor include European dry heath and blanket bog – varying in terms of cover between heather (Calluna vulgaris), bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), wavy hair grass (Deschampsia flexuosa), cotton grass (Eriphorium angustifolium and vaginatum) and Purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea). These form a mosaic interspersed with areas of transition between one habitat type and another.
Other plant species which occur on the open moor include crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) and acid-tolerant grass areas (often degraded dry heaths that are the result of past overgrazing) including soft rush (Juncus effusus), wavy hair grass (Deschampsia flexuosa), sheeps fescue (Fetusca ovina), mat grass (Nardus stricta) and purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea). Such grass areas on the moor are particularly important for birds such as curlew, lapwing, snipe, redshank - these favour cotton grasses and rushes on the wetter areas - and golden plover, wheatear, whinchat, ring ouzel and skylark on the shorter, drier grasses. Twite will use grassy tussocks for nesting but feed over a wider range of grasslands.
Heather, harebells, lapwings, curlews and skylarks
Every Wuthering Heights fan will remember the beautiful moment when Cathy presents a hen harrier feather she has collected on the moor to Heathcliff and teaches him to pronounce the bird’s name.
The Bronte moorland is renowned for the birds that breed here, including curlews, golden plover peregrines and merlins. Between mid-March and mid-July the birds court, make nests in the heather and grass, lay eggs and raise chicks.
Lower Laithe Reservoir
Lower Laithe Reservoir is situated to the west of Haworth village and to the north-west of Penistone Country Park.
The Yorkshire water reservoir is located within the parish of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury.
Overlooking the reservoir from the north is the village of Stanbury. To the south the reservoir is overlooked by a pattern of rectangular post-medieval enclosure and the farms of Intake Farm and Near Enfield Side. Beyond the largely pastoral landscape to the south is Haworth Moor.
Haworth and Stanbury Moors and these surrounding moorland areas provide excellent habitat for breeding birds such as Meadow Pipit, Linnet and Wheatear.
Few birds live on the reservoir itself although some like the shelduck are frequent visitors and Goosander can be seen throughout the year.
Penistone Hill Country Park
Penistone Hill Country Park is a beautiful open space of moorland that is located to 0.31 miles (0.5 km) west of Haworth. The Park consists of 179 acres of open grass, moorlands and disused quarries.
There is a Heritage trail that is an easy 1 and a half mile walk, which usually takes about 2 hours to walk around if you would like to make the most of the landscape, views and industrial heritage. One thing to know about this trail is that it’s not very suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs due to the uneven and bumpy ground.
There are also opportunities for horse riding and a wide variety of wildlife to enjoy. From the hill, there are fantastic views of Keighley and the South Pennines on clear days.
Watch out for Coenonympha tullia ssp
Common Lizard Lacerta vivipara has been seen near the Bronte Falls and at Penistone Hill Country Park
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