WALKERS are welcome on to the moors with their dogs as long as they follow a new code.
The Moorland Visitors' Code welcomes ramblers but warns them to keep their pet pooch under control to help save rare birds and wildlife.
From last Sunday, parts of England introduced open access to the moors with some 80 per cent of the newly available land made up of rare heather moorland.
The heather provides safe havens for ground nesting birds like curlew, lapwing, merlin, golden plover and the black grouse and the Moorland Association wants walkers to help keep the moors special.
The code, which goes into more specific detail than the Countryside Code, informs walkers that dogs must be kept under control and on a short lead during nesting and lambing seasons.
See Farm and Countryside (link below) for the full story.
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