79-663: The White Peak Loop is a 60-mile (97 km) route for walking, cycling and horse riding in the Peak District of England. The trail combines sections of the High Peak Trail and the Monsal Trail with linking sections through the towns of Buxton , Bakewell and Matlock . The White Peak Loop is being developed by Derbyshire County Council and as of 2022 some sections are not yet complete. Sections clockwise from Buxton: The High Peak Trail section links with
158-470: A constraint that was not placed on its predecessor NDPBs. Its powers include defining ancient woodlands , awarding grants, designating Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest , managing certain national nature reserves , overseeing access to open country and other recreation rights, and enforcing the associated regulations. It is also responsible for the administration of numerous grant schemes and frameworks that finance
237-607: A continuous flow in the River Etherow , which was essential for local industry and provided drinking water for Manchester. In a report for the Manchester Corporation , John Frederick Bateman wrote in 1846: Within ten or twelve miles of Manchester, and six or seven miles from the existing reservoirs at Gorton, there is this tract of mountain land abounding with springs of the purest quality. Its physical and geological features offer such peculiar features for
316-533: A higher standard. The early Arkwright mills were of light construction, narrow, about 9 feet (2.7 m) wide and low, the ceiling height being only 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 m) and lit by daylight. The new machines were powered by water wheels . The Peak was the ideal location, with its rivers and humid atmosphere. The local pool of labour was quickly exhausted and Litton Mill and Cressbrook Mill in Millers Dale brought in children as young as four from
395-487: A journey through the Peak in 1697, wrote of: ...Craggy hills Whose Bowells are full of mines of all kinds off Black and white and veined Marbles, and some have mines of Copper, others tinn and Leaden mines, in w is a great deale of silver. Coal measures occur on the Peak's western and eastern fringes. Evidence of past workings can be found from Glossop to The Roaches , and from Stocksbridge to Baslow . The coal measures in
474-464: A key part of proposals to regenerate existing urban areas. Natural England is working with partners in the growth areas, growth points and proposed eco-towns to prepare and implement green infrastructure strategies and demonstrate good practice on the ground. Natural England is one of the steering group partners of Neighbourhoods Green , a green Infrastructure partnership initiative which works with social landlords and housing associations to highlight
553-514: A neutral level. Natural England was challenged in High Court in 2006 by Peter Boggis, a pensioner who protected his house from erosion. Natural England claimed that as the site of Boggis's house, at Easton Bavents north of Southwold on the Suffolk coast was a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the protection went against the scientific community's interests. Natural England lost
632-471: A responsibility to help people enjoy, understand and access the natural environment . Natural England focuses its activities and resources on four strategic outcomes: As a non-departmental public body (NDPB), Natural England is independent of government. However, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has the legal power to issue guidance to Natural England on various matters,
711-540: Is a show cave . Small-scale mining takes place in Treak Cliff Cavern . Industrial limestone quarrying to make soda ash started around Buxton in 1874. In 1926 the operation of the Buxton lime industry became part of ICI . Large-scale limestone and gritstone quarrying flourished as lead mining declined, and is an important if contentious industry. Of the twelve large limestone quarries in operation, Tunstead
790-510: Is a by-product of fluorite, baryte and calcite mining. Bell pits were sunk to access ore that lay close to the surface. Fluorite or fluorspar is called Blue John locally, its name possibly from the French bleu et jaune describing its colour. Blue John is scarce and now only a few hundred kilograms are mined each year for ornamental and lapidary use. The Blue John Cavern in Castleton
869-496: Is a native perennial of limestone cliffs discovered by J. N. Mills in 1966 and described as a new species in 1968; and leek-coloured hawkweed ( H. subprasinifolium ), which was believed extinct until rediscovered on banks beside the Monsal Trail in Chee Dale in 2017. The endemic Derbyshire feather moss ( Thamnobryum angustifolium ) occurs in one Derbyshire limestone dale, its sole world location intentionally kept confidential;
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#1732801453914948-498: Is higher. The higher rainfall does not affect the temperature, which averages the same as the rest of England and Wales at 10.3 °C (50.5 °F). In the 1970s, the Dark Peak regularly had more than 70 days of snowfall. Since then the number has fallen. The hills still see long periods of continuous snow cover in some winters. Snow in mid-December 2009 on some hill summits created some snow patches that lasted until May 2010. In
1027-467: Is marked by millstone grit outcrops and broad swathes of moorland. Earth movements after the Carboniferous period resulted in the up-doming of the area and, particularly in the west, the folding of the rock strata along north–south axes. The region was raised in a north–south line which resulted in the dome-like shape and the shales and sandstones were worn away until limestone was exposed. At
1106-565: Is on a track near Deer Hill in Meltham ; its southernmost point is on the A52 road near Ashbourne . The boundaries were drawn to exclude built-up and industrial areas; in particular Buxton and the quarries at the end of the Peak Dale corridor are surrounded on three sides by the park. Bakewell and many villages are in the national park, as is much of the rural west of Sheffield. In 2010 it became
1185-453: Is one of the largest in Europe. Total limestone output was substantial: at the 1990 peak, 8.5 million tonnes was produced. Textiles have been exported for hundreds of years. In the 14th century, the area traded in unprocessed wool. There were several skilled hand spinners and weavers in the area. By the 1780s, Richard Arkwright had developed machinery to produce textiles faster and to
1264-507: Is responsible for the delivery of some of Defra's public service agreements (e.g. reversing the long-term decline in the number of farmland birds by 2020 and improving public access to the countryside). Natural England takes its finance, human resources and estates services from the Defra Shared Services organisation. Information technology services are outsourced to IBM. Natural England was established on 1 October 2006 by
1343-700: Is the largest settlement and only town in the national park and the site of the National Park Authority offices. Its five-arched bridge over the River Wye dates from the 13th century. Castleton is the centre of production of a semi-precious mineral, Blue John . Eyam village is known for a self-imposed quarantine during the Black Death . Edale is the southern end of the Pennine Way , a 268-mile national trail which traverses most of
1422-749: Is the most prominent. It rises on Bleaklow just east of Glossop and flows through the Upper Derwent Valley , where it is constrained by the Howden , Derwent and Ladybower reservoirs . The reservoirs of the Upper Derwent Valley were built from the early to mid-20th century to supply drinking water to the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. The rivers Noe and the Wye are tributaries. The River Manifold and River Dove in
1501-515: The Dark Peak and White Peak , but the wider Peak District is less well defined. The Dark Peak is largely uninhabited moorland and gritstone escarpments in the northern Peak District and its eastern and western margins. It encloses the central and southern White Peak, which is where most settlements, farmland and limestone gorges are found. Three of Natural England 's National Character Areas (NCAs) cover parts of it. The Dark Peak NCA includes
1580-606: The Mesolithic era; it was largely used for agricultural purposes until mining arose in the Middle Ages. During the Industrial Revolution , several cotton mills were constructed in the area's valleys by Richard Arkwright . As mining declined, quarrying grew. Tourism came with the railways, spurred by the landscape, spa towns and Castleton 's show caves. The Peak District forms the southern extremity of
1659-692: The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 , which implemented the recommendations of a rural review by The Baron Haskins of Skidby . It was formed by the amalgamation of three founder bodies: It received the powers of the founder bodies. In 2008, Sir Martin Doughty , the Chairman of Natural England, warned the Prime Minister of the potential danger of genetically modified crops . However, in 2012, Poul Christensen, CBE,
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#17328014539141738-820: The RSPB 's publication of Peak Malpractice , a 2006 report highlighting wildlife crime, the Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative was set up in 2011 by conservationists and shooting bodies to try to boost populations of birds of prey. The park authorities expressed disappointment at the limited results and the RSPB withdrew from the partnership in January 2018 citing continued efforts by the Moorland Association and National Gamekeepers’ Organisation which together had "frustrated any possibility of progress" on
1817-726: The Tissington Trail , the Pennine Bridleway and the Midshires Way at Parsley Hay . The White Peak Loop follows the Sustrans -sponsored National Cycle Route 54 from Cromford to Parsley Hay and National Cycle Route 68 from Parsley Hay to Buxton. There are car parks on the High Peak Trail at Hurdlow , Parsley Hay, Friden , Minninglow , Middleton Top and Black Rocks . There are car parks on
1896-829: The White Peak , a limestone area with valleys and gorges. The Dark Peak forms an arc on the north, east and west of the district, and the White Peak covers central and southern areas. The highest point is Kinder Scout (2,087 ft (636 m)). Most of the area is within the Peak District National Park , a protected landscape designated in 1951. A 2021 report states that "the Park’s own population numbers around 40,000 and supports an estimated 18,000 jobs, predominantly through farming, manufacturing and, inevitably, tourism". The area has been inhabited since
1975-481: The anomalous , broom moth , dot moth , garden dart , mouse moth and white ermine . Other invertebrates include the bilberry bumblebee , broad groove-head spider , mole cricket , northern yellow splinter , shining guest ant , violet oil beetle and white-clawed crayfish . The Peak District National Park was the first national park to be designated in the United Kingdom, on 17 April 1951 (following
2054-488: The coal measures that occur only on the margins and infrequent outcrops of igneous rocks , including lavas , tuffs and volcanic vent agglomerates . The general geological structure is that of a broad dome , whose western margins have been intensely faulted and folded . Uplift and erosion have sliced the top off the Derbyshire Dome to reveal a concentric outcrop pattern with coal-measured rocks on
2133-473: The workhouses of London as apprentices. As technology advanced, narrow valleys proved unsuited to larger steam-driven mills, but Derbyshire mills remained to trade in finishing and niche products. Glossop benefited from the textile industry. Its economy was tied to a spinning and weaving tradition that evolved from developments in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution . Until
2212-680: The 1940s onwards, but may now be extinct. Red deer herds, assumed to be derived from animals escaped from deer parks at Lyme Park and Chatsworth , are established in the upper reaches of the Goyt valley and on the moors above Baslow , and a herd on Wharncliffe Crags outside the national park north of Sheffield may derive from hunting stock of Wharncliffe Chase. Biodiversity action plans have been prepared for mountain hare, brown hare , brown long-eared bat , dormouse , harvest mouse , hedgehog , noctule bat , otter , pine marten , polecat , soprano pipistrelle and water vole . The status of
2291-825: The First World War, Glossop was the headquarters of the largest textile printworks in the world, but after the Wall Street crash its product lines became vulnerable and the industry declined. Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs . It is responsible for ensuring that England 's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna , freshwater and marine environments , geology and soils, are protected and improved. It also has
2370-627: The Monsal Trail at Bakewell, Hassop Station , Monsal Head , Tideswell Dale , Millers Dale and Wyedale. Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines . Mostly in Derbyshire , it extends into Cheshire , Greater Manchester , Staffordshire , West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire . It is subdivided into the Dark Peak , moorland dominated by gritstone , and
2449-628: The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949 and a resulting public enquiry to establish its boundary). It was one of ten parks created in the 1950s in the wake of the 1945 Dower Report and 1947 Hobhouse Report, which recommended the creation of national parks in England and Wales. The park has an area of 1,438 square kilometres (555 sq mi) and receives approximately 13 million visitors each year. 90% of
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2528-535: The Peak District was once inhabited by an eclectic mix of species, many of them no longer found in Britain, such as alpine swift , demoiselle crane and long-legged buzzard . Species lost from the Peak District through human activity include hazel grouse , capercaillie and golden eagle . Amphibians and reptiles such as common lizards , grass snakes , great crested newts and slow worms are found in
2607-551: The Pennines and ends at Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish border . The park also contains the highest village in the United Kingdom, Flash , at 1,519 feet (463 m). Other villages in the park include Hathersage , Hartington , Ilam and Tideswell . The towns of Glossop , Chapel-en-le-Frith , Buxton , Macclesfield , Leek , Ashbourne, Matlock and Chesterfield are on the national park's fringes. The spa town of Buxton
2686-517: The Pennines. Much of it is upland above 1,000 feet (300 m), its highest point being Kinder Scout at 2,087 ft (636 m). Despite its name, the landscape has fewer sharp peaks than rounded hills, plateaus , valleys, limestone gorges and gritstone escarpments (the "edges"). The mostly rural area is surrounded by conurbations and large urban areas, including Manchester , Huddersfield , Sheffield , Derby and Stoke-on-Trent . The national park has formal boundaries. It covers most of
2765-918: The South West Peak NCA. The limestone plateaus of the White Peak are more intensively farmed, with mainly dairy usage of improved pastures. Woodland forms some 8 per cent of the Peak National Park. Natural broad-leaved woodland appears in the steep dales of the White Peak and cloughs of the Dark Peak. Reservoir margins often have coniferous plantations. White Peak habitats include calcareous grassland , ash woodlands and rock outcrops for lime-loving species. They include early purple orchid ( Orchis mascula ), dark-red helleborine ( Epipactis atrorubens ) and fly orchid ( Ophrys insectifera ), common rockrose ( Helianthemum nummularium ), spring cinquefoil ( Helianthemum nummularium ) and grass of parnassus ( Parnassia palustris ). Lead rakes,
2844-611: The White Peak fed the Cromford Canal . The Peak Forest Canal brought lime from the quarries at Dove Holes for the construction industry. It terminated at Bugsworth Basin and the journey was completed using the Peak Forest Tramway . The Cromford Canal, from Cromford to the Erewash Canal , served lead mines at Wirksworth and Sir Richard Arkwright 's cotton mills. The Caldon Canal from Froghall
2923-449: The area have been found in several caves. Various rock-types beneath the soil strongly influence the landscape; they determine the type of vegetation and ultimately the type of animal inhabiting the area. Limestone has fissures and is soluble in water, so that rivers could carve deep, narrow valleys. These often find routes underground, creating cave systems. Millstone grit is insoluble but porous , absorbing water that seeps through
3002-405: The area. It was not iced over in the last glacial period , which peaked about 20,000–22,000 years ago. A mix of Irish Sea and Lake District ice abutted its western margins. Glacial meltwaters eroded a complex of sinuous channels along this margin of the district. Glacial meltwaters contributed to the formation and development of many caves in the limestone area. Remains of wild animal herds roaming
3081-458: The case in 2009, when Mr. Justice Blair, the brother of the former Prime Minister, ruled that Mr. Boggis' "human predicament" was more important than the site's SSSI status. Natural England won the subsequent appeal in October 2009. On 23 April 2019, Natural England (NE) announced that it was revoking three general licences in England for controlling certain wild birds using firearms. The removal
3160-399: The coal and dewatered the mines. Coal from the east was used in lead smelting and from the west for lime burning. Lead mining peaked in the 17th and 18th centuries; high concentrations were found in the area from this period, along with peat on Kinder Scout, suggesting that lead smelting occurred. Lead mining declined from the mid-19th century, with the last major mine closing in 1939. Lead
3239-748: The collection, storage and supply of water for the use of the towns in the plains below that I am surprised that they have been overlooked. The western Peak District is drained by the Etherow, the Goyt and the Tame , all tributaries of the River Mersey . The north-east is drained by tributaries of the River Don . Of the tributaries of the River Trent draining south and east, the River Derwent
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3318-518: The colony covers about 3 square metres (32 sq ft) of a rock face with small subsidiary colonies nearby. Jacob's-ladder ( Polemonium caeruleum ), a rarish species characteristic of limestone dales in the White Peak, has been Derbyshire's county flower since 2002. It grows on grassland, light woodland, screes and rock ledges, and by streams in Lathkill , Wolfscote, Taddington, Wye Dale and other dales. Pollen evidence from peat bogs shows it
3397-602: The development and conservation of the natural environment, for example environmental stewardship , the Countryside Stewardship Scheme , environmentally sensitive areas , and the Access to Nature Scheme. It has been severely criticised recently by badger protection lobbyists for allegedly ignoring scientific data and granting extended badger cull licences to DEFRA. Natural England's latest corporate plan sets out its goals and detailed objectives. It
3476-549: The district. The eastern moors are a stronghold for adders . Native fish in the Peak District include Atlantic salmon , brown trout , European eel , bullhead , brook lamprey and grayling . A possibly unique population of "wild" rainbow trout survives on the Derbyshire Wye , following their introduction at the turn of the 20th century. Butterflies in the region include the dingy skipper , brown argus , small blue and white-letter hairstreak . Moths include
3555-560: The duration of these pay restraints and issues including equality and disparity between Public body pay increases. The following take from 2 December 2020 Research briefing on Public body pay. "In 2010, the Coalition Government announced a two-year pay freeze from 2011/12. Following cuts to local government funding, local government workers were subject to a three-year pay freeze. From 2013/14 to 2017/18 public sector pay awards were capped at an average of 1%. This policy
3634-689: The east are at the western edge of the South Yorkshire Coalfield . Those in the west are part of the Cheshire section of the Lancashire Coalfield . Mining started in medieval times , was at its most productive in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and continued into the early 20th century. The earliest mining took place around outcrops , where miners followed the seams deeper into the hillsides. At Goyt's Moss and Axe Edge , deep seams were worked and steam engines raised
3713-525: The eastern and western margins, carboniferous limestone at the core and rocks of millstone grit between them. The southern edge of the Derbyshire dome is overlain by sandstones of Triassic age, though they barely impinge on the National Park. The White Peak forms a central and southern section with carboniferous limestone found at or near the surface. The Dark Peak to the north, east and west
3792-605: The end of this period, the Earth's crust sank here which led to the area being covered by sea, depositing a variety of new rocks. Some time after its deposition, mineral veins were formed in the limestone. The veins and rakes have been mined for lead since Roman times . The Peak District was iced over in at least one of the ice ages of the last two million years, probably the Anglian glaciation of some 450,000 years ago, as shown by patches of glacial till or boulder clay found across
3871-509: The fifth largest national park in England and Wales. In the UK, designation as a national park means that planning and other functions are provided by a national park authority, with additional restrictions that enhance protection from inappropriate development. Land within this national park as in others is in a mix of public and private ownership. The National Trust , a charity that conserves historic and natural landscapes, owns about 12 per cent of
3950-417: The grits, until it meets the less porous shales beneath, creating springs where it reaches the surface. The shales are friable and easily attacked by frost, forming areas vulnerable to landslides, as on Mam Tor. The gritstone and shale of the Dark Peak supports heather moorland and blanket bog , with rough sheep pasture and grouse shooting as the main land uses, though parts are also farmed, especially
4029-598: The heather moorlands of the Dark Peak, where the red grouse population is maintained by gamekeepers employed by shooting estates. A population of black grouse became extinct in 2000, but reintroduction was attempted in 2003. Quarries and rock outcrops provide nest sites for peregrine falcon and common raven . Ravens and common buzzards are increasingly found as their British range expands eastwards, perhaps because of general reductions in persecution. Illegal persecution has limited populations of rare raptors such as Eurasian goshawk , peregrine and hen harrier . Following
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#17328014539144108-535: The high moors. After decades of decline due to pollution, Sphagnum mosses are returning, with species such as S. cuspidatum particularly dominant. Most Peak District mammals are generalists and widespread across the UK, but the mountain hares on heather moorland in the Dark Peak form the only wild population in England. They were reintroduced in the Victorian era for sporting purposes. A feral population of red-necked wallabies lived around The Roaches from
4187-418: The importance of, and raise the overall quality of, design and management for open and green space in social housing. In 2019 and 2020, NE noted that housing development could adversely affect the environment in some rivers as sewage outputs would increase levels of nutrients , specifically nitrogen and phosphorus. NE advised that development should only proceed in these areas where this could be mitigated to
4266-435: The issue. Fast-flowing rivers attract specialists such as grey wagtail , dipper , common sandpiper , mandarin duck and goosander . Wooded and semi-wooded areas attract redstart , pied flycatcher , wood warbler and tree pipit , and coniferous plantations house siskin and common crossbill . Upland reservoirs in the Dark Peak are generally oligotrophic and attract few birds, but lower-lying reservoirs on
4345-458: The land in the national park. Its three estates ( High Peak , White Peak and Longshaw ) include ecologically or geologically significant areas at Bleaklow , Derwent Edge , Hope Woodlands , Kinder Scout , the Manifold valley, Mam Tor , Dovedale , Milldale and Winnats Pass . The park authority owns around 5 per cent; other major landowners include several water companies. Bakewell
4424-456: The local authorities covered by the park. The local authorities and the number of members they appoint are as follows: The Peak has been inhabited from the earliest periods of human activity, as shown by finds of Mesolithic flint artefacts and palaeo-environmental evidence from caves in Dovedale and elsewhere. Signs of Neolithic activity include monumental earthworks or barrows such as
4503-532: The moorland plateaux of the Dark Peak and the high ridges of the White Peak. Many rivers in the Dark Peak and outer fringes were dammed to create reservoirs for supplying drinking water. Streams were dammed to provide headwater for water driven mills ; weirs were built for the same purpose. The reservoirs of the Longdendale Chain were completed in February 1877 to provide compensation water, ensuring
4582-453: The moorlands are a net carbon sink or source, based on the fact that Britain's upland areas contain a major global carbon store in the form of peat . Human interaction in terms of direct erosion and fire, with the effects of global warming, are the main variables they considered. The Peak District is formed almost wholly of sedimentary rocks of the Carboniferous period. They make up the carboniferous limestone overlying gritstone , and
4661-407: The national park is privately owned, with the largest single owner being the National Trust (12%). The national park is governed by the Peak District National Park Authority, which was established under the 1995 Environment Act, replacing the Peak Park Planning Board. The authority has 30 members, 14 appointed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs and 16 appointed by
4740-501: The next Chairman of Natural England, said that middle England should embrace new technologies like GM crops as long as there were adequate testing and safeguards. As a Public Body Natural England has been subject to pay Freezes and pay restrictions following the 2008 financial crash, and is likely to be subject to the 2020 three year pay freeze also. Natural England staff have now been subject to pay freezes and 1% pay increases. Staff and Unions representing staff have voiced concerns over
4819-443: The northern and eastern parts of the Dark Peak and the White Peak NCA most of the White Peak. The western margins of the Dark Peak are in the South West Peak NCA, where farmland and pastured valleys are found with gritstone edges and moorland. Outside the park, the wider Peak District often includes the area approximately between Disley and Sterndale Moor, encompassing Buxton and the Peak Dale corridor. It may also include some of
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#17328014539144898-415: The one at Margery Hill . The Bronze Age saw the area well populated and farmed. Evidence remains in henges such as Arbor Low near Youlgreave and the Nine Ladies stone circle at Stanton Moor . In the same period and into the Iron Age , hill forts such as Mam Tor's were created. The Romans drew on the area's rich mineral veins, exporting lead from the Buxton area along well-used routes. Buxton
4977-488: The outer fringes and foothills, such as the Churnet and lower Derwent Valleys. The region is mostly surrounded by lowlands with gritstone moorlands of the South Pennines to the north, separated approximately by the Tame Valley , Standedge and Holme Valley . The national park covers 555 square miles (1,440 km ), including most of the region in Derbyshire and extends into Staffordshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and South and West Yorkshire. Its northern limit
5056-591: The pine marten is unclear, though confirmed sightings have occurred in recent decades in Derbyshire and north Staffordshire and a specimen from an introduced Welsh population was found dead outside the national park on a road between Ripley and Belper in 2018. As with mammals, many Peak bird species are widespread generalists. The Dark Peak moors still support breeding populations of several upland specialists, such as twite , short-eared owl , golden plover , dunlin , ring ouzel , northern wheatear and merlin . The populations of twite and golden plover are
5135-457: The same winter, the A635 (Saddleworth Moor) and A57 (Snake Pass) were closed due to snow for almost a month. Frost cover is seen for 20–30 per cent of the winter on moorland in the Dark Peak and 10 per cent in the White Peak. The Moorland Indicators of Climate Change Initiative was set up in 2008 to collect data in the area. Students investigated the interaction between people and the moorlands and their effect on climate change, to discover whether
5214-413: The south-west, whose sources are on Axe Edge Moor , flow into the Trent. The River Dane flows into the River Weaver in Cheshire. There are no canals in the national park, although the Standedge Tunnels on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal run underneath the extreme north of it. Outside the park, waters from the Dark Peak feed the Macclesfield , Ashton , and Huddersfield Narrow Canals and waters from
5293-452: The southern fringes such as Carsington Water and Ogston Reservoir regularly attract rare migrants and wintering rarities such as various waders, wildfowl, gulls and terns. The area is regularly overflown by wintering populations of pink-footed geese moving between East Anglia and Morecambe Bay. Dipper, golden plover, hen harrier, merlin and short-eared owl are local biodiversity action plan priority species. Fossil records show that
5372-503: The southernmost confirmed breeding populations in England, and the Peak District Moors Special Protection Area (SPA) is a European designation for its populations of merlin, golden plover and short-eared owl. The Peak District lacks the concentrations of breeding waders found further north in the Pennines, though the moors and their fringes accommodate breeding curlew and lapwing , and less noticeable wading birds such as dunlin and snipe . Commercial driven grouse shooting occurs on
5451-435: The spoil heaps of ancient mining activity, form another distinctive White Peak habitat, supporting a range of rare metallophyte plants, including spring sandwort ( Minuartia verna ; also known as leadwort), alpine pennycress ( Thlaspi caerulescens ) and mountain pansy ( Viola lutea ). Two endemic vascular plants are found nowhere else in the world: Derby hawkweed ( Hieracium naviense ), found only in Winnats Pass ,
5530-463: The staff who came from original bodies which vested to Natural England - The Rural Development Service, English Nature and the Countryside Agency. On this matter, and the pay freeze and pay reductions over 10 years Unions representing Natural England staff have threatened strike action. In May 2008, Natural England published a report, State of the Natural Environment , which brought together statistics and facts about England's environment. The report
5609-409: Was a Roman settlement known as " Aquae Arnemetiae " for its spring. Theories on how the name Peak derived cite the Pecsaetan or peaklanders, an Anglo-Saxon tribe inhabiting the central and northern parts of the area from the 6th century CE, when it belonged to the Anglian kingdom of Mercia . Barrows from the Anglo-Saxon period are present, including Benty Grange , where the eponymous helmet
5688-403: Was built to transport limestone from quarries at Cauldon Low for the iron industry and flints for the pottery industry. Most of the area is over 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, in the centre of the country at a latitude of 53°N, bringing relatively high annual rainfall averaging 40.35 inches (1,025 mm) in 1999. The Dark Peak tends to receive more rainfall than the White Peak, as it
5767-758: Was built up by the Dukes of Devonshire as a genteel health resort in the 18th century while the spa at Matlock Bath , in the River Derwent valley, was popularised in Victorian times. Hayfield is at the foot of Kinder Scout, the area's highest summit. Other towns and villages fringing the park include Whaley Bridge , Hadfield , Tintwistle , Darley Dale and Wirksworth in Derbyshire, Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire and Marsden and Holmfirth in West Yorkshire. Several rivers have sources on
5846-400: Was found. In medieval and early modern times, the area was mainly agricultural, with sheep farming, rather than arable the main activity in upland holdings. From the 16th century, the mineral and geological wealth became increasingly significant. Not only lead, but coal, fluorite , copper from Ecton Mines , zinc , iron , manganese and silver have been mined. Celia Fiennes , describing
5925-399: Was intended to be used by environmental organisations as a benchmark and source for policy development. It complements reports on different topics produced by other organisations: Natural England funded eight pilot green exercise projects through local regional partnerships. These projects increased levels of physical activity and people's connections to their local green spaces. However, it
6004-589: Was lifted in 2017 and from 2018/19 to 2020/21 the parts of the public sector that are covered by the PRBs received pay rises above 2%. The Trades Union Congress has criticised the constraints that were in place from 2010, arguing that they led to a "decade of lost pay". The severity of the cuts by the Conservative government to Natural England in particular have been reported in the media including The Guardian newspaper. There also exists pay disparities between
6083-401: Was not clear whether these projects really changed people's long-term attitudes. Natural England is promoting the concept of green infrastructure as a way to deliver a wide range of benefits for people and the natural environment together. It believes that green infrastructure should be delivered via the spatial planning system, as an integral part of new development everywhere, and also form
6162-557: Was widespread throughout Britain just after the last ice age. Much planted in gardens from where it has established itself in other parts of the area, as a native it is restricted to the White Peak and the Yorkshire Dales . The Dark Peak heathlands, bogs, gritstone edges and acid grasslands contain relatively few species; heather ( Calluna vulgaris ), crowberry ( Empetrum nigrum ), bilberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus ) and hare's-tail cotton grass ( Eriophorum vaginatum ) dominate
6241-503: Was without consultation or communication. These licences covered 16 species of birds including several species of crow, gull and pigeon, along with non-native species such as Canada goose and sacred ibis . Natural England took the decision following a legal challenge by the environmental group Wild Justice which questioned the legality of the general licences. This rendered farmers temporarily unable to kill these species without applying for individual licences. On 26 April 2019 NE issued
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