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29 South West Peak
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The landscape of the South West Peak is characterised by Millstone Grits and Coal Measures formed during the Carboniferous period. Folding and faulting of the rock and erosion by water courses has produced a varied and dramatic landscape. The high altitude and heavy rainfall have created acidic soils dominated by moorland vegetation. In the north, large areas are covered by blanket peat deposits. Fast-flowing streams have cut deep valleys or 'cloughs' which widen out towards the gently undulating farmland of the Shropshire, Staffordshire and the Cheshire Plain.
South West Peak is a mosaic of closely related landform and vegetation patterns. These include extensive tracts of wild, heather-dominated moorland and blanket bog with wooded cloughs. Around the small-scale enclosed farmsteads there are meadows, rushy pastures and more productive farmland. The area is important for moorland breeding birds including merlin, short-eared owl and curlew on heather moorland, golden plover on blanket bog and a range of ground-nesting waders on the associated in-bye pastures.
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Natural Area profile available - Size 551.9 kb
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