River Tees and Juniper Woodland at High Force

About the Site

The Pennine Way affords views of some excellent wildlife, particularly the stretch between Low and High Force along the River Tees.

A footpath leaves the south side of the Middleton to Alston Road at Bowlees and heads toward Wynch Bridge before hugging the south bank of the Tees. A mile upstream, the river can be crossed by the next bridge at Holwick Head, or walkers can stay on the southern side of the river to progress a further half-mile into Moorhouse Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve.

Here you will find the largest juniper wood, before arriving at the spectacular High Force waterfall.

Until the end of the 19th century, juniper was put to good use by locals. Branches were cut for firewood, which burnt with a pleasant fragrance and its prickles were often used as a substitute for barbed-wire fencing. The berries were ground down and used to flavour bread and cakes.

Today, juniper has become extinct on many sites as a result of agricultural change and is a priority for conservation in Durham. Juniper scrub supports heather, crowberry, bilberry, wavy hair-grass, ferns and mosses. It has many important and characteristic invertebrates, including the Juniper Pug and Juniper Carpet moths. It is also important as a food source for many birds, notably the song thrush and fieldfare. Nowadays it is often more associated with gin.

High Force crashes from a shelf of dolerite over a horizontal band of shale to a deep dark plunge pool 21 metres below. The water is always brown and peaty, and very cold. Behind the thunderous noise of the waterfall, it is possible to hear the call of sandpipers, oystercatchers and redshanks.

The walk between Low Force and Holwick Head bridge passes through or alongside birchwood, and an unusual grassland which is very rich in wild flowers. The outcrops of sugar lime-stone support an number of ‘Teesdale rarities’ such as bird’s-eye primrose, alpine bistort, globeflower, mountain everlasting, shrubby cinquefoil and several species of orchid.

Globeflower has large butter-coloured flowers that grow in tight bunches resembling a large buttercup. The coral pink flowers with yellow centres of the bird’s-eye primrose can be seen during May and June. Look out for the rather untidy bushes of shrubby cinquefoil. You may have seen this plant with its bright yellow, buttercup-like flowers, in gardens or supermarket car parks. However, as a wild flower it is extremely rare, only occurring in the British Isles along the upper Tees and west of England.

Between April and June some of the breeding waders for which the dale is famous can be spotted - for example common sandpipers calling from the riverside cobbles and squeaking lapwing and drumming snipe in the adjacent hay meadows.

For the more energetic, a further 3 miles along the Pennine Way takes walkers through a further series of habitats. Beyond High Force the path climbs up onto low moorland with scattered juniper bushes persisting for more than a mile. In places the path traverses a boardwalk through delicate flush habitats which hold insectivorous plants such as butterwort and sundew. Butterwort has a pale green basal rosette of leaves and produces two or three pale blue flowers that sit alone on the end of a long flower stalk.

Sundew has fleshy leaves that are covered in red tinged hairs that each have a drop of sticky ‘dew’ at their tips to trap insects. Don’t be deceived into thinking these insectivorous plants have to be large in order to trap insects, they are in fact rather small and unobtrusive.

Please remember that walking the Pennine Way in this area does not give right of access to adjacent land.

Pennine Way near High Force - Map

Location

NY 885 285

Facilities

There are convenient parking and toilet facilities nearby at Bowlees Visitor centre.

Enquiries

English Nature,
Widdybank Farm
Langdon Beck
Forest in Teesdale
Bernard Castle
County Durham
DL12 OHQ
Telephone: 01833 622374