Breckland in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

and

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

is a 39,433 hectare

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cert ...

(SPA) under the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. The SPA partly overlaps the 7,544 hectare Breckland

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

. As a landscape region it is an unusual natural habitat of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It comprises the

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are n ...

-covered sandy heath that lies mostly in the south of the county of

but also in the north of

. An area of considerable interest for its unusual flora and fauna, it lies to the east of another unusual habitat, the Fens, and to the south west of the Broads. The typical tree of this area is the Scots pine. Breckland is one of the driest areas in England. The area of Breckland has been substantially reduced in the twentieth century by the impact of modern farming and the creation in 1914 of Thetford Forest. However substantial areas have been preserved, not least by the presence of the British Army on the

Stanford Battle Area Stanford Training Area (STANTA), originally known as Stanford Battle Area, is a British Army training area situated in the English county of Norfolk. The area is approximately in size; it is some north of the town of Thetford and south-west ...

. During the Prehistoric period Breckland was mined for flint, evidence for which can be found at Grimes Graves just outside Thetford in

. The word 'Breck' is medieval and was defined as being an area of heathland broken up for cultivation before being allowed to retreat back into wilderness. Up until 200 years ago, much of it consisted of open heathland. The Brecks today are a tourist attraction as well as an area of scientific and geographical interest. The Breckland landscape region has given its name to Breckland District, a local government district that contains most of Norfolk's portion of the Breckland. Part of

West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral dist ...

district cover the Suffolk portion. The Great Eastern Pingo Trail is 8 miles of tracks and paths exploring the eastern edge of the Breckland area. The trail takes in the commons at the villages of Thompson and

Stow Bedon Stow Bedon is village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Stow Bedon and Breckles, in the Breckland district of the English county of Norfolk. Stow Bedon adjoins the hamlet of Lower Stow Bedon, although the two are often considered to ...

, and heathland at Breckles and Great Hockham. Thompson Water, an artificial lake, and the woodland at Thompson Carr also form part of the walk. The name of the trail comes from the former

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

and the large number of ''pingo ponds'' found in the area. Pingo ponds or kettle lakes are formed from collapsed mound of earth-covered ice, called pingos, formed when the ice-sheets retreated. The trail may be accessed as a detour from the Peddars Way long-distance footpath. It is a Local Nature Reserve.

Wildlife

Although the Brecks has experienced extraordinary change and loss of wildlife species and habitats in the last 50 years, the varied habitats of the area continue to provide a refuge for many threatened species. 43% of the Brecks is protected at a national or international level for its wildlife or geological interest. Over 12,845 species live in the Brecklands. This is one of the most important areas for wildlife in the UK, including birds such as the nightjars, woodlarks, and the 65% of the UK's stone curlew population. Sadly, 25 species previously recorded in breckland are now considered to be nationally extinct; ranging from flowers and mosses to beetles and moths. The Brecklands are home to over 120 nationally rare and threatened plant species, many of which grow nowhere else in Britain. With all this diversity, Breckland has received international recognition as an Important Plant Area (IPA). Many of the flora and fauna that are unique to the area have a special protection status, or are part of conservation and rewilding projects. Fauna that are being monitored in Breckland habitats include the woodlark,

stone curlews The stone-curlews, also known as dikkops or thick-knees, consist of 10 species within the family Burhinidae, and are found throughout the tropical and temperate parts of the world, with two or more species occurring in some areas of Africa, Asia, ...

, grey carpet moth, lunar yellow under-wing moth, nightjars, brush-thighed seed-eater beetle, forester moth, moonshiner beetle, and five-banded tailed digger wasp. Rare or endangered plants include the Spanish Catchfly, Spring Speedwell,

Tower Mustard ''Arabis glabra'', commonly known as tower rockcress or tower mustard, is a tall, slim, grey-green plant with small creamy flowers at the top of the stem. It usually grows on poor chalky or sandy soils, in open situations. It is native to Europe, ...

, Rare Spring-sedge, Red-tipped Cudweed, Field Wormwood, Prostrate Perennial Knawel,

Fingered Speedwell ''Veronica triphyllos'' is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxgl ...

Military Orchid ''Orchis militaris'', the military orchid, is a species of orchid native to Europe. It is the type species of the genus ''Orchis''. Description This plant grows to a height of 20 to 50 cm with a robust stem with rather drawn up oblong ...

, Proliferous Pink,

Bee Orchid Bee orchid is a common name for several orchids and may refer to: *'' Cottonia peduncularis'', a species of orchid from India and Sri Lanka *'' Diuris carinata'', a species of orchid from the south-west of Western Australia *'' Ida barringtoniae'', ...

Fine-leaved Sandwort, and Grape Hyacinth. 86% of Breckland heathland was lost between 1934 and 1980. Huge areas have been planted with

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

plantations and many heaths have been ploughed for arable crops. Grazing by sheep and cattle has declined and rabbit populations crashed when myxomatosis arrived in 1954. Combined with the loss of bracken and heather collection for animal bedding, large areas of heath have now become densely vegetated, crowding out the plants that preferred the open, disturbed and well-grazed land. In addition, much of the open sand dune habitat has also become overgrown, with sand no longer moving around in the wind . A

Pool Frog The pool frog (''Pelophylax lessonae'') is a European frog in the family Ranidae. Its specific name was chosen by the Italian herpetologist Lorenzo Camerano in 1882, in order to honour his master Michele Lessona. Description The pool frog is ...

(Pelophylax lessonae) reintroduction project was started in 2005 by English Nature. Breckland is one of the few areas in England where the rare and shy (but non-indigenous) golden pheasant may be seen in the wild.

Gallery

Breckland Thyme Thymus serpyllum (6169103649).jpg,

Breckland thyme ''Thymus serpyllum'', known by the common names of Breckland thyme, Breckland wild thyme, wild thyme, creeping thyme, or elfin thyme, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to most of Europe and North Africa. It ...

(thymus serpyllum) Brandon Park Heath - geograph.org.uk - 1011845.jpg, Brandon Park Heath High Wrong Corner, Thetford Forest - geograph.org.uk - 514451.jpg, Scots pines in Thetford Forest Edge of Thetford Forest - geograph.org.uk - 1025834.jpg, Open breckland meets dense forest Byway to Weeting - geograph.org.uk - 626102.jpg, Breck heath at Weeting Knettishall Heath Country Park - geograph.org.uk - 2325.jpg, Knettishall Heath Small pingo in open landscape - geograph.org.uk - 1707129.jpg, Pingo in open grassland Kelling Heath - geograph.org.uk - 562026.jpg, Typical breckland landscape Breckland Species Zonation and Soils - geograph.org.uk - 415797.jpg, Breckland soil excavation Gorse bush in the Brecks - geograph.org.uk - 276059.jpg,

Gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are n ...

bush Gateway to The Brecks - geograph.org.uk - 715877.jpg, Gateway to the Brecks at Elveden 70.197 BF1871 Grey Carpet, Lithostege griseata (7307078836).jpg, Grey Carpet moth

References

External links

The Breckswww.countrysideaccess.norfolk.gov.ukThe Breckland Society
* * * {{Authority control Breckland District Forest Heath Geography of Norfolk Geography of Suffolk Natural regions of England Local Nature Reserves in Norfolk Borough of St Edmundsbury