Sammy Fraser, RSPB Brecks Community Engagement Officer writes...
This is my first guest blog on the Lakenheath Fen page, so hopefully I can live up to David’s brilliant blogs!
I work with the Brecks Team. We are based in a little office in the heart of the Brecks, in Thetford. The Brecks spans approximately a 1,000 square kilometres, encompassing both Norfolk and Suffolk in its borders. It includes the market towns of Thetford, Swaffham, Brandon, Mildenhall and Watton. Our work is wide ranging. We work with farmers to protect stone curlews and work with partner conservation organisations to give nature a home in the Brecks. We also help farmers to give nature a home and promote the wildlife and heritage of the Brecks to local people through events.
Why do we do all of this? Because the Brecks is such an incredibly important area for wildlife and is a completely unique landscape!
There are three things that make the Brecks so unique. Those of you who have driven down the A11 in the summer will have noticed the unique sandy and dry soil of the Brecks. This soil also links into the second Brecks unique feature, its climate. The Brecks is one of the driest parts of the country and frequently experiences extremes in temperatures. You can get a frost at any time of the year as the sandy soil doesn’t retain the heat of the day. Finally, the Brecks also has a completely unique land use history. This includes flint mining, rabbit warrening and forest planting
The result is a varied landscape of wildlife rich farmland and rare heathland. It also includes Thetford Forest, the largest lowland forest in the UK. There are even some glacial lakes called pingos!
This menagerie of habitats is home to an incredible array of wildlife. In fact, the Brecks is of outstanding importance for UK wildlife. A total of 12,845 different species have been recorded here and of these, 2,149 are priority species for conservation concern. Some are even endemic to the Brecks!
So, you might be wondering why I’m talking about the Brecks in a blog about a fenland reserve. Well, Lakenheath Fen is right on the border of the Fens and the Brecks, so you can literally have one foot in the sandy Brecks and the other in the peaty Fens! When walking the Brandon Fen family trail, you can see several clues that you are in the Brecks. On the sandy soil between the poplars, you can find some of the specialist Brecks plants that thrive in these dry, nutrient poor conditions. Summer time is the best time to see one of these colourful specialists, biting stonecrop:
Image credit: Andrew Holland
So next time you visit the reserve, why not take a stroll around Brandon Fen to experience a snapshot of the Brecks?
Stay tuned for the next blog to find out more about this unique landscape on your doorstep.