WILDLIFE across the Yorkshire Dales is flourishing, thanks to the efforts of green-fingered volunteers who have been working to transform 10 community spaces into flower-rich havens.

As part of the Meadow Links project, led by local charity Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT), community groups in and around the Yorkshire Dales to create and restore publically accessible wildflower hay meadows.

Hay meadows are fantastic habitats for pollinating insects, enabling them and other wildlife to move across our countryside.

During the course of the project, the charity provided ten community groups with support and advice, as well as local sustainably sourced wildflower seed, plug plants, tools, a site assessment, management plan, and training in seed collecting, propagating, scything and other traditional skills.

Tanya St. Pierre, Meadow Links Project Officer at YDMT, said: "Over the last 18 months, it’s been an enormous privilege to have also worked with some really fantastic and dedicated community groups.

"What they’ve achieved has proven that many of the principles can be successfully scaled-down to create smaller meadows that can be easily accessed and enjoyed by the community, with outcomes that are equally important to wildlife.

"It is hoped that, once established, these community meadows can be used as a source of seed to facilitate more meadow restoration projects in the future."