Peak Ridge

Acid Grassland: A type of habitat found on acidic soils (such as those over Upper Greensand) characterised by specific grasses and a total presence in the Peak Ridge survey area.

Bio-indicator Species: Organisms (like the Southern Marsh Orchid or Bank Hair-cap Moss) whose presence or health serves as a measure of the environmental conditions of a specific locale.

Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF): A management approach that avoids clear-felling, maintaining a permanent forest canopy and encouraging natural regeneration and diverse age structures.

CROW Act: The Countryside and Rights of Way Act, which includes legal requirements for dog owners to keep pets on leads during bird breeding seasons (March 1st to July 31st).

Dark Corridors: Areas intentionally kept free of artificial light to protect the navigational and hunting behaviors of nocturnal wildlife.

Grips: Old drainage channels or ditches; blocking these is a primary method for re-wetting mires and restoring hydrological balance.

Leaky Dams: Natural speed bumps created by pinning logs across streams to slow the flow of water and prevent downstream flooding.

Lowland Heathland: A nationally scarce habitat characterised by heathers and gorse; it is a primary focus of the "Heaths to Sea" project and essential for Dartford warblers.

Managed Retreat: A conservation strategy—specifically used at Peak Hill—where human infrastructure like footpaths is moved inland in response to natural coastal erosion rather than attempting to stop the erosion.

Mire: A boggy, peat-forming wetland; restoration of mires at Muttersmoor is central to the network's water management strategy.

NoFence: A high-tech "invisible" fencing system using GPS collars that emit signals to keep livestock within programmed boundaries.

Saproxylic: Invertebrates or organisms that depend on dead or decaying wood for their life cycle; supported in Peak Wood by a policy of leaving fallen timber.

Soft Edges (Scrub Mosaics): Transitional zones between different habitats (e.g., woodland and field) that are managed to be "messy" and sun-drenched to support high biodiversity.

Swaling: The practice of controlled burning used to manage heathland and create a mosaic of different heather ages.

Upper Greensand: The underlying geology of the ridge that creates the highly acidic soil conditions defining much of the network's flora.