Norfolk is a county in East Anglia. It has an area of 2074sqmi[1] and a population as of mid-2017 of 898,400.[2] The top level of local government is Norfolk County Council with seven second tier councils: Breckland District Council, Broadland District Council, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council, North Norfolk District Council, Norwich City Council and South Norfolk District Council.[3] The county is bounded by Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Lincolnshire and the North Sea.[1]
Local nature reserves (LNRs) are designated by local authorities under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The local authority must have a legal control over the site, by owning or leasing it or having an agreement with the owner. Local nature reserves are sites which have a special local interest either biologically or geologically. Local authorities have a duty to care for them, and can apply local bye-laws to manage and protect them.[4] [5]
As of October 2018, there are 27 LNRs in Norfolk, seven of which are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, three are Special Areas of Conservation, three are Special Protection Areas, one is a Ramsar site, one is a Geological Conservation Review site, one is a Nature Conservation Review site, one is a Scheduled Monument, two are managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and one by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
| Site | Photograph | Area | Location | Borough | Other classifications | Map | Details | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnham Cross Common | 69.2sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Thetford 52.398°N 0.74°W | Breckland | SAC,[6] SPA,[7] SSSI[8] | Map | Details | This grassland and heath common has diverse habitats and a rich flora, including several nationally rare plants. There are nearly 100 species of birds, including 60 which breed on the site, and a wide range of invertebrates.[9] | ||
| Bath Hills | 12.2sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Bungay 52.469°N 1.422°W | South Norfolk | Map | Details | This is the sheltered south side of a steep valley, and spring flowers bloom very early as a result.[10] | |||
| Bowthorpe Marsh | 5.9sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.63°N 1.221°W | Norwich | Map | Details | This site adjacent to the River Yare has unimproved grassland, tall fen, a seasonal pond and drainage ditches, which have aquatic plants such as reed sweet-grass.[11] | |||
| Breydon Water | 449.1sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Great Yarmouth 52.607°N 1.684°W | Great Yarmouth | Ramsar,[12] SPA,[13] SSSI[14] [15] | Map | Details | This inland tidal estuary has large areas of mud at low tide, and it provides an ample food supply for migrating and wintering wildfowl and waders. There are nationally important numbers of several species of wintering wildfowl, including rare species.[16] | ||
| Broome Heath | 31.7sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Bungay 52.47°N 1.453°W | South Norfolk | SM,[17] SSSI[18] | Map | Details | This site in the valley of the River Waveney has marshy grazing land and lakes. At the southern end there is a Neolithic settlement,[19] and in the middle there are long and round barrows. | ||
| Brundall Church Fen | 2.8sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.621°N 1.426°W | Broadland | Map | Details | Fauna in this former gazing marsh include water voles, foxes, Chinese water deer and occasionally otters.[20] | |||
| Danby Wood | 3.9sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.603°N 1.275°W | Norwich | Map | Details | This semi-natural wood on a former chalk mine has many hills, hollows and banks. Broadleaved trees include oaks, limes, sycamores and two walnuts.[21] | |||
| Dunston Common | 3.8sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.574°N 1.284°W | South Norfolk | Map | Details | Most of this site is grassland with flora including lady's bedstraw, harebell and sheep's sorrel. There is also an area of semi-mature woodland at the western end.[22] | |||
| Earlham Park Woods | 8.1sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.623°N 1.231°W | Norwich | Map | Details | This is an area of woodland fringing Earlham Park, and trees include regenerating elms. Other habitats include tall marsh, unimproved grassland and a pond which has silted up.[23] | |||
| Eaton Common | 5.3sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.598°N 1.259°W | Norwich | Map | Details | This site on the bank of the River Yare is mainly grassland, some of which is marshy. There are also small areas of broadleaved woodland and tall herbs.[24] | |||
| Felmingham Cutting | 1sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.808°N 1.334°W | North Norfolk | Map | Details | Sixteen species of butterfly breed on this railway cutting, which is on a former line of the Midland and Great Northern Railway, and is now part of the Weavers Way long-distance footpath.[25] | |||
| Great Eastern Pingo Trail | 4.2sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Thetford 52.504°N 0.841°W | Breckland | NCR,[26] NWT,[27] SAC,[28] SPA,[29] SSSI[30] [31] [32] | Map | Details | This site has around 300 pingos, shallow pools formed when ice melted at the end of the last ice age. There is a mosaic of habitats with a large lake, Thompson Water, at the western end.[33] [34] | ||
| Hindringham Meadows | 6.7sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Fakenham 52.9°N 0.92°W | North Norfolk | Map | Details | No information is available about this site. | |||
| Knapton Cutting | 0.9sortable=onNaNsortable=on | North Walsham 52.845°N 1.412°W | North Norfolk | Map | Details | Knapton Cutting is a footpath from Knapton to North Walsham along the former North Walsham to Mundesley railway line. A short stretch at the northern end is the LNR, called Knapton Cutting Butterfly Reserve. It has a variety of flowering plants, including small-flowered catchfly, which is classified as endangered in Britain.[35] | |||
| Lion Wood | 8.9sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.629°N 1.32°W | Norwich | Map | Details | Around a third of this wood is believed to be ancient. The dominant trees are oak and sycamore, and there is a variety of woodland birds such as blackcaps and green and greater spotted woodpeckers.[36] | |||
| Litcham Common | 24.9sortable=onNaNsortable=on | King's Lynn 52.718°N 0.789°W | Breckland | Map | Details | This heathland site has areas of acid grassland, wet and dry heath, scrub and mature oak and birch woodland.[37] | |||
| Marston Marshes | 25.9sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.602°N 1.268°W | Norwich | Map | Details | This site in the flood plain of the River Yare has marshes, fen, dykes, scrub, wet woodland, dry grassland and five ponds. Flora include ragged robin and southern marsh orchid and there many invertebrates including the rare Desmoulin's whorl snail.[38] | |||
| Mousehold Heath | 74sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.643°N 1.314°W | Norwich | GCR,[39] SSSI[40] | Map | Details | This fragment of a formerly extensive heath has habitats including woodland, a pond, scrub and acid grassland. There are woodland birds such as song thrushes and great spotted woodpeckers.[41] | ||
| Pigney's Wood | 20.9sortable=onNaNsortable=on | North Walsham 52.837°N 1.404°W | North Norfolk | NWT[42] | Map | Details | This wood has 40 different species of trees, most of which have been planted since 1993, but there is a 450 year old oak. There is also a range of birds, butterflies and dragonflies. Mammals include otters, water voles and badgers. | ||
| Roydon Fen | 17.2sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Diss 52.375°N 1.085°W | South Norfolk | SWT | Map | Details | This site was taken over by wet woodland in the twentieth century, but the SWT has restored the eastern end to fen by mowing, and it has many typical fen plants such as marsh helleborine, marsh fragrant orchid and sawsedge.[43] | ||
| Smockmill Common | 10sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.536°N 1.269°W | South Norfolk | Map | Details | This site next to the River Tas has fen on the river bank and woodland and grassland in other areas. The flora is very diverse.[44] | |||
| South Walsham Fen | 1.4sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.661°N 1.474°W | Broadland | Map | Details | This nature reserve has semi-improved grassland and species-rich hedges which mark an ancient track. There are also areas of bracken[45] and old woodland.[46] | |||
| Southrepps Common | 12.9sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.865°N 1.358°W | North Norfolk | SAC[47] SSSI[48] | Map | Details | This is damp grassland and fen in the valley of the River Ant. There are several rare true flies characteristic of undisturbed wetlands, especially Pteromicra glabricula and Colobaea distincta, both of which have larvae which are parasitic on snails.[49] | ||
| Toll's Meadow, Wymondham | 1.7sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Wymondham 52.567°N 1.113°W | South Norfolk | Map | Details | The River Tiffey runs through this site, which has wet meadow and woodland. There is a variety of small birds and mammals include muntjac and roe deer, bank voles and common shrews.[50] | |||
| Wensum Valley | 8.2sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.64°N 1.265°W | Norwich | Map | Details | This site is in two adjacent areas. Mile Cross Marsh has damp grassland and fen and Sycamore Crescent is a narrow stretch of mature oak and beech woodland with an understorey of elm and sycamore.[51] | |||
| Whitlingham Marsh | 15.5sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Norwich 52.622°N 1.361°W | South Norfolk | Map | Details | Most of this site on the southern bank of the River Yare is reed beds, which have many dragonflies. Chinese water deer sometimes browse in the marsh.[52] | |||
| Wiveton Down | 6.5sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Holt 52.937°N 1.024°W | North Norfolk | SSSI[53] | Map | Details | This is a classic example of an esker, a glacial crevasse which has been filled in until it forms a narrow winding ridge. It has been very important for teaching, research and demonstration.[54] |
. Derek . Ratcliffe . A Nature Conservation Review. 2 . Derek Ratcliffe . Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK . 1977. 978-0-521-21403-2 .