The Development of a Nature Reserve as an Area of Conservational and Recreational Interest

Abstract

Surveys of visitors to a moorland Nature Reserve in Yorkshire, England, were carried out in 1968 and 1973. The major change during the five-years' period is that visitors have increased their interest in conservationally desirable improvements, such as the construction of hides, and have reduced their demand for such amenities as tea-rooms and toilets. It is concluded that the establishment of a picnic site and the creation of a nature trail have made the area more accessible to the general countryside user while not destroying the wildlife conservation potential of the habitat.