The Park
Tourism
Land Use
Conservation
Design 
Farming
Castleton
Dovedale
Upper Derwent
Geology
Minerals
 Nature
Burbage Valley
Erosion
Bakewell
Population 
Langsett
The Rangers
The Pennine Way
The Goyt Valley
Longdendale
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The Peak District National Park is at the Southern tip of the Pennines, at the junction of highland and lowland Britain. For this reason, it has plants and animals which are typical of both the northern mountainous region and also the central and southern area of England. Plant and animal communities are determined mainly by the underlying rocks, the climate and human management of the land.

This Fact Zone looks at a cross section of the Peak District countryside from the high moorlands of the Dark Peak through the fertile shale valleys and on to the plateaux and dales of the White Peak. The numbers on the cross-section below, refer to the information on the inside pages, about each type of habitat.



WHITE PEAK

Limestone is the underlying rock of the centre and south of the Peak District. Because it is light in colour, the area is called the White Peak. The White Peak mostly lies less than 350 metres above sea level and consists of plateaux with some hills rising above them, crossed by deep, steep-sided dales. The plateau is mostly improved pasture. There is a wide variety of plants growing in the unimproved vegetation.
DARK PEAK

The eastern and western edges and the area north of the Hope Valley form the Dark Peak area. The rocks underneath the Dark Peak are Millstone Grit (a hard sandstone) and shale (found mostly in the valleys). The land lies mainly between 150 and 600 metres above sea level. The moorland, which mostly occurs at the higher levels, experiences low temperatures, high rainfall and is exposed and windy. The soils are acid. Any animal or plant which lives on the moors has to be hardy and well adapted to the conditions. The lower land is mostly improved pasture of little wildlife value.





HABITATS IN THE PEAK NATIONAL PARK




Typical cross section through the Peak District National Park



Limestone dale & cliffs
Ancient woodland
1. LIMESTONE CLIFFS give protection from grazing and fires, so yew, rock whitebeam and alpine currant may grow on ledges. Shady cracks are home to ferns and mosses. Jackdaws and kestrels nest in holes.

2. SCREE consists of sharp edged pieces of stone which have been broken off cliffs by the freezing of water in cracks. While the scree is gradually moving downhill, nothing much grows on it, apart from herb robert. Ash and other trees with large seeds sometimes manage to grow and may form woodland. When the scree stops moving, soil gradually develops and some of the best grassland is on what was once scree.

3. ANCIENT WOODLAND survives in some of the dales, often on north facing slopes.  Ash is the main tree and shrubs include hazel, guelder rose and bird cherry. Sycamore, which is not natural to the area, is spreading by seed into many woodlands. Its early, heavy shade kills most woodland flowers, such as wood anemone.

4. Only a few LIMESTONE DALES have streams running through them (the water sinks down cracks in the limestone). These streams are very pure and so hold a variety of plants and animals that are sensitive to pollution. Insects such as mayfly larvae, caddisfly and stonefly larvae encourage predators such as the dipper, feeding under the water and the grey wagtail catching flying insects above the water.

5. TALLER GRASSLAND on better soil often has meadow cranesbill, valerian, meadowsweet and field scabious.

Common blue butterfly
Early Purple Orchids
6. The short grassland of LIMESTONE HILLS AND DALE-SIDES generally has a very rich flora, including cowslips, orchids, small scabious and bloody cranesbill. Outcrops of rock, especially when facing south, usually suffer from drought. Some plants manage to survive by storing water in fleshy leaves (wall pepper); by having roots which go deeply into cracks (salad burnet); or by growing during the wetter parts of the year, leaving only seeds to survive until Autumn (shining cranesbill). The big variety of plants encourages a number of insects, for instance, common blue and orange tip butterflies. Without sheep grazing or fires, hawthorn seeds dropped by thrushes grow into bushes and eventually a woodland of little interest replaces the rich grassland.
Points to Consider
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POINTS TO CONSIDER