North York Moors Sheep Tracking Project Update: Building Knowledge and Collaboration on Commons
It’s been a busy period for our FiPL-funded project in the North York Moors. Successful gatherings of local commoners at the back end of 2025 saw sessions on habitats and sheep tracking as the North York Moors Graziers Group becomes more established. The project also includes some fascinating research into sheep movements as FCL and local farmers work with the University of Essex on a trial involving GPS trackers on nearly 130 sheep on the commons, with some really interesting outcomes.
The North York Moors Graziers Group (NYMGG) FiPL project has had a busy and positive autumn, with strong momentum building around collaboration, learning and innovation on the commons. Activity over recent months has focused on bringing graziers together, progressing the GPS sheep tracking trial and laying the foundations for a resilient and well-connected group into the future.
A major highlight was the Sheep Tracking Demonstration held on 30 October at Moorfoot House Farm in Glaisdale, kindly hosted by Ian Ford. The event was very well attended, with participants travelling from across the North York Moors to see the technology in action and take part in lively discussion. The day combined on-farm demonstrations with presentations from Perdix and the University of Essex, followed by informal conversations over food that proved just as valuable as the formal sessions. Feedback from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive, with many welcoming the opportunity to share experiences and explore how new tools might support commoning in the long term.
The GPS sheep tracking trial continues to be a central and exciting element of the project. Researchers from the University of Essex have now completed an initial round of analysis, producing clear and accessible visualisations of sheep movement across the moor. These early insights are already helping to build a picture of how sheep use the landscape at different times of day and throughout the year. For example, the data shows consistent patterns of sheep gathering near familiar landscape features. These findings strongly reflect graziers’ own knowledge and observations, helping to validate both the technology and the value of combining data with lived experience.
Looking at individual sheep has also revealed interesting variation within flocks, from animals that tend to stay close to core areas to others that range more widely. Visual examples shared at meetings has brought this to life and sparked thoughtful discussion about behaviour, shelter, grazing pressure and management practices. Importantly, graziers are actively helping to shape the next steps of the research by highlighting which questions matter most to them and how the results can be made practical and useful.
Beyond the tracking work, the project is continuing to strengthen the NYMGG as a group. A new administrator has been appointed, helping to support communication and organisation, and the reach of the group is widening, with graziers attending from across the National Park. A meeting in December was held in Farndale, focussing on farmer knowledge of habitat and how this could be used in the future. Further meetings are planned over the remainder of the winter, with the next session at Goathland on 27th January, and all designed to encourage peer learning and long-term collaboration.
Over the next few months, the focus will be on strengthening the group and developing long-term plans to continue collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Alongside this, we will also be deepening the analysis of the tracking data, sharing findings in clear and engaging ways and exploring opportunities to build on this pilot through future research. Together, these activities are helping to create a stronger, more connected grazing community and a growing evidence base to support resilient commoning on the North York Moors.