Turtle avoiding soft ground (7)
I believe the answer is:
terrain
'ground' is the definition.
(terrain is land or ground)
I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for terrain that I've seen before include "Topography" , "Stretch of land with respect to its character" , "Trainer (anag) - land" , "Ground - rare tin (anag)" , "Piece of ground" .)