Bringing back the birds: the ‘ghost woodlands’ transforming England’s barren sheep fells

A groundbreaking tree-planting programme is uniting farmers and rewilders, as portions of common ground in the Yorkshire Dales national park are being restored to their ancient glory

• Photographs by Rebecca Cole

The Howgill Fells are a smooth, treeless cluster of hills in the Yorkshire Dales national park, so bald and lumpy that they are sometimes described as a herd of sleeping elephants. Their bare appearance - stark even by UK standards - has been shaped by centuries of sheep grazing. Yet beneath the soil lie ancient tree roots: the silent traces of long-lost ghost woodlands".

Over the past 12 years, 300,000 native trees have been planted by the project