Wild Peak

The Peak district is renowned for its beauty. With majestic rivers, striking dales, moors, wooded valleys and uplands, the Peak District should be teeming with wildlife, abundant with wild animals and plants. But it is not. Wildlife is dying out. Nature is under threat.

Wild Peak will be a partnership of local landowners, community groups, businesses and organisations; local people who believe in a Peak District fit for the future; a land restored so that Golden Eagles and Ospreys once again soar overhead, Black Grouse and Hen Harriers are back where they belong amidst abundant wildflower meadows rich in insect life and healthy blanket bogs; where Pine Martens, Adders and Red Squirrels are thriving in native woodlands that are expanding and Beavers are restoring and creating new wetlands.

The main aims of Wild Peak are:

• Restoring the Peak – restore woodlands, peatbogs and meadows, and reintroduce missing species including beavers, black grouse and pine martens. Natural processes will be allowed to lead the way so that the uplands become wilder and the landscape developers freely over time
• Protecting our way of life – restoration of woodlands and vegetation to lock up carbon, create healthier soils, and regular the flow of floodwater. It will also create more diverse and resilient local economies.
• Local partnerships – the project brings together people that live, work and do business in the Peak District. Community groups and local landowners will be connected
• Better Health — By restoring the landscape to a place that is exciting and teeming with wildlife, Wild Peak will inspire more people of all ages to benefit from time spent in nature

Get Involved

Join Wild Peak to make a place that is wilder, richer, healthier and ensures a thriving Peak District for generations to come. Wild Peak partners with local landowners, helping with advice on sustainable farming, planting woodlands, creating wetlands, connecting wild pieces of land together and the reintroduction of species. The project is being led by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.

PROJECTS

Here’s some of the projects that Wild Peak are working with:

Wild Thornhill

This 30 hectare area of former farmland is a unique site, rare within The Peak District National Park for its unmanaged Wildness. It is currently home to a fantastic array of wild wood land, scrub, beautiful wild flower meadows. The Wild Peak Project is looking to continue rewilding the site, with the use of low numbers of herbivores including cattle to mimic natural processes and continue to allow a mosaic of habitats to thrive.

If you would like to donate to the wild peak project, you can find out more information here.