Breckland Forest

Breckland Forest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
LocationNorfolk, England
Suffolk, England
Grid referenceTL 822 872[1]
InterestBiological
Geological
Area18,126 hectares[1]
Notification2000[1]
Location mapMagic Map

Breckland Forest is an 18,126 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in many separate areas between Swaffham in Norfolk and Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England.[1][2] It is part of the Breckland Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.[3][4] It contains two Geological Conservation Review sites, Beeches Pit, Icklingham and High Lodge.[5][6] Barton Mills Valley is a Local Nature Reserve in the south-west corner of the site.[7]

Woodlarks and nightjars breed on this site in internationally important numbers. There are also several nationally rare vascular plants and invertebrates on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Geological sites provide evidence of the environmental and human history of East Anglia during the Middle Pleistocene.[8]

Major landowners that own land within Breckland Forest SSSI include the Ministry of Defence, the Forestry Commission and the Crown Estate.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Designated Sites View: Breckland Forest". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  2. ^ "Map of Breckland Forest". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  3. ^ "Designated Sites View: Breckland". Special Protection Area. Natural England. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  4. ^ "Special Protection Areas under the EC Birds Directive. Breckland" (PDF). Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  5. ^ "Beeches Pit, Icklingham (Quaternary of East Anglia)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  6. ^ "High Lodge (Quaternary of East Anglia)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  7. ^ "Barton Mills Valley". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 26 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Breckland Forest citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  9. ^ "Mapping the habitats of England's ten largest institutional landowners". Who owns England?. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
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52°24′N 0°42′E / 52.4°N 0.7°E / 52.4; 0.7