OLDER visitors to Ribblesdale may think they have stepped back in time as they gaze across the limestone pastures.

In a bid to bring back carpets of wild flowers, English Nature, working with several partners, has brought in 26 traditional upland cattle. The plan is to re-create the grazing regimes commonplace in the Dales until the Sixties.

The cattle, Beef Shorthorns and a "blue-grey" variety developed locally from Beef Shorthorns crossed with Galloways, are hardy breeds and can cope with the tough upland climate. They also thrive on coarse grasses and rush, leaving the way open for wild flowers to spread and prosper.

The move, part of the £1.27m Limestone Country LIFE project, aims to reintroduce traditional cattle breeds to up to 20 farms in the area, with financial support from the project.

The first batch of cattle has been put to graze on areas within the Ingleborough National Nature Reserve, at High Brae and Sulber, near Horton-in-Ribblesdale. They are replacing sheep grazing.

The cattle, 18 month- and two-year-olds, were bought from an organic holding in Cumbria and are the first English Nature has owned as grazing stock in the Dales area.

Paul Evans, conservation officer for English Nature, said: "Changes in farming over the past 40 years have seen traditional breeds disappear from the uplands, to be replaced by sheep, which tend to graze selectively, leaving coarse grasses and rush to dominate the pasture.

"The Limestone Country LIFE project will help bring colour back to the Dales. Plants such as bird's-eye primrose, wild thyme, bilberry and the insectivorous butterwort will expand, creating spectacular landscapes."

Working in partnership with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, the National Trust and the National Beef Association, English Nature is hoping that traditional cattle breeds will gradually replace heavier, continental breeds across nearly 4,000 acres of limestone country in five years' time.

"Changes in agricultural funding will see a change from payments on stock numbers to single area payments," Mr Evans said. "This will finance low-density limestone farming, which will help the Dales landscape recover. For farmers, support from the LIFE project will help make sure that switching to traditional breeds is financially viable."