A news roundup from across the Yorkshire Dales. There's a lot going on in the National Park and to give you a taste of just some of the news from the Dales, here's a few quick snippets.

Whey to go…

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has given its full support to a drive to protect the world-famous Wensleydale cheese.

The Yorkshire Post newspaper's Uniquely Yorkshire campaign is backing a move that would ban any producer outside the dale from calling its cheeses "Real Yorkshire Wensleydale".

Nature wonders just a click away…

The wildlife wonders of the Yorkshire Dales have been brought into everyone's home with the launch of a package of online information.

The Wildlife Conservation Team at the National Park has created the new section - called 'Nature in the Dales' - on the Authority's website at www.yorkshiredales.org.uk.

Amazing facts about the National Park include:

• There are some wildflowers in the Yorkshire Dales that live nowhere else in the world
• There is a bat seen in the Dales with ears that are three quarters the length of its body
• In the National Park there are nearly 1500 species of moths, 100 species of nesting birds, 36 species of butterflies, 30 species of mammals, hundreds of plant species and more.

MaDD in the Dales…

Nature lovers who fancy donating some spare time to help look after parts of the beautiful Yorkshire Dales are invited to go MaDD on a taster day next Saturday (October 28).

Lord's Wood in Giggleswick is the venue for a day that will see volunteers working alongside the professional wardens to clear away trees in hazel coppice woodland.

The event coincides with Make a Difference Day (MaDD) - the UK's largest day of volunteering organised by the charity Community Service Volunteers.

Satellite points to hidden Dales treasure...

Visitors are being given the chance to join in the latest craze to hit the UK as the National Park Authority sets up its own geocache trail.

The sport involves using a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and a map to follow a trail and find hidden 'treasure'.

"Apart from buying a GPS, which can be relatively cheap, it costs nothing and gives people a chance to see exactly what the National Park has to offer," said Karen Griffiths, the YDNPA's Interpretation Officer.

The treasure - waterproof plastic boxes - could be in cracks and crevices, behind stones, among tree roots - in fact anywhere that keeps them hidden and doesn't involve disturbing or harming the natural surroundings.

Forging links between communities…

MEMBERS of Black and Minority Ethnic communities in West Yorkshire have spent a weekend finding out what the National Park has to offer.

The visitors were members of the nationwide Mosaic Partnership - a £1 million project aimed at cementing links between people from ethnic minorities and four National Parks - the Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District, North York Moors and the Brecon Beacons.