Of all the great landscapes of Norfolk, Sydney Long, founder of what is now Norfolk Wildlife Trust, loved the Brecks best. Long before it was a nature reserve he would visit East Wretham Heath in March each year to record the return of the wheatears which then bred there. After he died, and once NWT had acquired the reserve, the friends with whose support he founded the trust erected a memorial to Sydney Long at East Wretham Heath, honouring his love of the Brecks and his peerless achievements for the county’s wildlife.
At the time of his death, in January 1939, one dearly desired achievement still eluded Sydney Long. He had secured the protection of no land for wildlife in his beloved Brecks. In 1932 he had purchased three cottages in Lakenheath for what was then Norfolk Naturalists Trust. This move bestowed on NNT commoners rights over Lakenheath Warren, an exceptional grass heath with extensive areas of bare sand and dunes, meaning in theory that its development could be vetoed. However, among the countless global tragedies of the Second World War, a personal tragedy for Sydney Long was the requisition of Lakenheath Warren, to be converted to the airbase which occupies the site even today.
Since then, in Sydney Long’s honour, Norfolk Wildlife Trust has known many successes in the conservation of Brecks wildlife. Shortly after his death in 1939 we began to acquire East Wretham Heath, with its precious fluctuating meres. In 1942 and 1945 we purchased Weeting Heath for its priceless Breckland flora and nesting stone curlews, known then as Norfolk plovers, and in 1970 a unique arable weeds reserve was established there. We have since worked with partners including The Forestry Commission and Natural England to restore numerous sites from conifer plantation to Brecks grassland of nature reserve quality.
One of the most remarkable reserves in the Brecks, for its landscape history, its many rare species and its sheer diversity of habitat is Thompson Common, which came into our care in 1981. The reserve features more than 400 pingos, which are periglacial natural ponds, formed during the retreat of the last glaciation. Since the chalk springs which froze to form the pingos during the bleak winters of the post-glacial period have continued to flood them through the ensuing thousands of years, the pingos represent a living connection to the Ice Age and are home to countless species which have been lost elsewhere. No fewer than 58 threatened species, most of them invertebrates, are known to inhabit Thompson’s pingos, while pollen and beetle wing cases from pingo silt have given academics and reserve managers a priceless insight into Breckland landscape history, which informs how we care for our reserves today.
The greatest threat to Thompson Common, both to its rare wildlife and its resilience to climate change, is its isolation in a landscape largely now devoted to intensive agriculture. In 2017 NWT purchased 23 hectares of adjacent land at Watering Farm. The aims of this acquisition were twofold: to prevent water from outdoor pigs on the land flowing into Thompson Water, the reserve’s largest wetland, causing water-soldier to choke its other wildlife; but also to experiment with the restoration of Brecks grassland on former agricultural land, by deep ploughing to bring nutrient-poor soil to the surface.
Today Norfolk Wildlife Trust is set to take the next bold step in Thompson Common’s restoration and its protection from future stresses, including climate change. We have the opportunity to acquire 11.5 hectares of semi-natural woodland, with shaded pingos which are a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the only known East Anglian home of the pond mud snail, plus 42 hectares at adjacent Mere Farm, where we can build on our success in restoring arable land to Breck grassland. Even more excitingly, Mere Farm has a number of ghost pingos, which with expert help we can restore, recreating further lost habitat for the rare wildlife of Thompson Common and connecting the reserve to a network of protected Brecks sites, to increase its future resilience.
Such ambitious projects do not come without a cost. We must raise £625,625 in the next twelve months to secure these two precious pieces of land, together covering 53.5 hectares, and fit them into the jigsaw of sites across which we protect wildlife in the Brecks. Thanks to a humbling and remarkable legacy, the figure we still need to raise is just £250,000. With your help we can continue to deliver Sydney Long’s vision for wildlife conservation in the Brecks, recreate habitats which have been lost, allow wildlife to flow more freely across the Brecks landscape, and insure Thompson Common, one of Norfolk’s most exceptional natural sites, against future vulnerability.
Our appeal launches at a difficult time for all due to the coronavirus. We have 12 months to raise the money so are suggesting you Wait to Donate, as our office is closed an unable to process cheques or take phone donations. You can donate online if you are able.