Here’s a little quiz. What links the following: Elgar, squirrels, slow motion, bats, chainsaws, eccentrics and erratics?

Sounds like a Ken Russell film or a Pete Doherty come-down, except we doubt he’s a big Elgar fan. No, it’s the programme of treats laid on by the Yorkshire Dales National Park. There are more than 120 different activities happening in the Dales between now and December.

Beware: squirrels on the loose 

You can be enthralled by a lecture on red squirrels, watch a chainsaw sculpture demonstration or take a slow motion walk around Malham. There’s a fungus trail, a chance to watch bats in the evening, and a tour of the eccentrics around Clapham. That’s geology rather than Alan Bennett.

Elgar also drew inspiration from the Yorkshire Dales and you can take a guided walk of the areas around Stainforth that might have been in his mind as he composed a few variations. There’s a comprehensive events link on the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s website.

Now, get looking for those fungus-eating chainsaw-wielding squirrels.