The Yorkshire Dales National Park: How did you do?

If you don’t want to know the answers, look away now! You can have a go at the quiz yourself here. Otherwise, read on…

1. Which is the sleepiest animal in the Yorkshire Dales? (1 point)

A. Red squirrel
B. Badger
C. Dormouse

Answer: C. Dormouse

…and not just in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ – it can spend up to three quarters of its life asleep! Dormice are easily identifiable because of their unique furry tails. They can live up to four years and will usually have just one litter of 4 to 5 mouselings a year. They are endangered in Britain and it is illegal to disturb or injure a dormouse or its habitat. Forty to fifty per cent will die during hibernation. Dormice will also often have periods of summer torpor. Climate change is not good for them; if winters are warmer and a dormouse wakes up, it will use vital fat reserves at a time when there isn’t enough food to replace them.

Badgers may not truly hibernate at all in the UK. In milder winters they will continue to be active, perhaps nodding off for longer periods if the temperature dips lower.

Red squirrels do not hibernate. They build up body fat reserves in the autumn to help them through the winter and they store food, but they will be active all winter.

2. Which animal can travel the fastest? (1 point)

A. Red kite
B. Brown hare
C. Peregrine falcon

Answer: C. Peregrine falcon

In a stoop (when diving on their prey) they can reach speeds of up to 200 miles per hour.

3. One of these is not a water feature – but which? (1 point)

A. Stainforth Force
B. Malham Cove
C. Malham Tarn

Answer: B. Malham Cove

Although the Cove was formed into the shape it is today by meltwater running off the glacier that was present during the last Ice Age, very occasionally, during exceptionally high rainfall, water has been seen coming over the face of the Cove. The last time in living memory was 2015 following Storm Desmond.

4. Can you put the Yorkshire Three Peaks in order of height – lowest first? (3 points)

A. Pen-y-ghent
B. Whernside
C. Ingleborough

Answers:
A. Pen-y-ghent at 694m
C. Ingleborough at 723m
B. Whernside at 736m

5. You are a Dales farmer – which of these is good news? (1 point)

A. Your sheep is rigwelted
B. You are nithered
C. You have goosegogs in the garden
D. Your hat is in the foss

Answer: C. If you have goosegogs, then you have gooseberries!

If a sheep is rigwelted (or sometimes you will see or hear it as “rigged”), it is stuck on its back and can’t get to its feet without help.

If you are nithered, you are cold.

If your hat is in the foss, you will need to dry it out before you can wear it again (if you ever get it back!) – a foss is a waterfall (from old Norse).

6. Which of these has the best dance? (1 point)

A. Black grouse
B. Oystercatcher
C. Hedgehog

Answer: A. Black grouse

Black grouse have an exhausting ‘lekking’ season where the males dance for the females. They go through a set of ritualised moves with their tails fanned. The females will choose the fittest birds at the end to mate with.

7. Name the species – only common English names are needed! (1 point each)

Which is the odd one out? (5 points)

Answers:
A. Curlew
B. Northern brown argus butterfly
C. Otter
D. Buzzard

So there are actually two answers for the odd one out. The obvious one is that otters can’t fly. But the answer we were after is the curlew – it is the only one that doesn’t stay in the Dales all year round. Curlews come in the spring to breed and then the vast majority leave in the autumn to go back to the estuaries and mud flats.

The northern brown argus butterfly overwinters as a caterpillar at the base of its favourite plant – the rock rose.

8. Name the features (1 point each)

Which is the oldest? (1 point)

Answer: C. Bolton Castle

A. Ribblehead Viaduct – construction started in 1870
B. Drystone wall – a trick question? This wall in the picture might only be a hundred years old, but some of our walls have been dated back to around 1300, making them older than the Castle!
C. Bolton Castle – construction started in 1378

9. Name the following breeds, all found in the Yorkshire Dales (1 point each)

Answer:
A. Highland cow
B. Belted Galloway cow
C. Swaledale sheep

10. What do the following words mean? (1 point each)

A. Foss (as in Janet’s Foss)
B. Thwaite (as in Yockenthwaite)
C. Kirk (as in Kirkby Malham)
D. Rigwelted
E. Baht (as in Ilkla Moor Baht’at)
F. Nithered

Answer:
A. Waterfall (old Norse)
B. Clearing meadow or paddock (old Norse)
C. Church (old Norse)
D. Stuck on your back (Nordic origin)
E. Without
F. Cold

So, are you pleasantly surprised at how well you did, or did you know you had it in the bag?

Well done, we hope you enjoyed the quiz and learning more about the Yorkshire Dales.

1-10 Nice try! There were some tricky questions in there!

10-20 Good job – well on your way to being a Yorkshire Dales expert.

20-29 Awesome! You really know your stuff.

30? Wow – we have an expert here – when can we sign you up!?

Look out for our next quiz coming soon…