This large historic common is situated in two different parishes, Broome and Ditchingham. A County Wildlife Site this common is a mosaic of heathland, lakes and woodlands.
Please note this site is not a Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve.
Habitat description from the Wildlife in Common Survey
A site of former minerals extraction that contains secondary woodland, bare sand and gravel, patches of scrub and heath, plus a series of lakes used largely for fishing. The site has open access and is heavily used for walking; there is also heavy rabbit grazing, resulting in a tight cropped, short sward with much bare ground. The site is notably higher to the north, dropping rapidly to the lakes to the south.
The north-west boundary of the site is dominated by mature scrub, which has developed into secondary woodland at the boundary. The wood is composed of oak
Quercus robur, silver birch
Betula pendula, bracken
Pteridium aqiulinium, gorse
Ulex europeaus and bramble
Rubus fruticosus agg. This wooded belt is quite young, with rare, mature trees such as a few old oaks and large, old coppiced silver birches. Ground flora is limited to ground ivy
Glechoma hederacea, lords and ladies
Arum maculatum, hybrid bluebells
Hyacinthoides × massartiana, wood forget-me-not
Myosotis sylvatica with increasing bramble and bracken in places. Ragwort
Senecio jacobaea is frequent here and across the site.
The central area of the site is largely open; in places there are stands of various ages of heather
Calluna vulgaris and bell heather
Erica cinerea, but in most places the sward is short and heavily rabbit grazed. Bracken is coming to dominate some areas, such as on the tumuli. The tight, short sward of the grassland supports sheep’s sorrel
Rumex acetosella, early hair grass
Aira praecox, little mouse ear
Cerastium semidecandrum, common storksbill
Erodium cicutarium, buckshorn plantain
Plantago coronopus, shepherd’s cress
Teesdalia nudicaulis, suffocated clover
Trifolium suffocatum, common cudweed
Filago vulgaris, cat’s ear
Hypochaeris radicata, common birdsfoot trefoil
Lotus corniculatus, field woodrush
Luzula campestris, spring vetch
Vicia lathyroides, changing forget-me-not
Myosotis discolour, early forget-me-not
Myosotis ramosissima, birdsfoot
Ornithopus perpusillus, slender parsley
piert Aphanes australis, lesser chickweed
Stellaria pallida, heath dog violet
Viola canina and squirrel-tailed fescue
Vulpia bromoides.
The mesotrophic lakes support limited marginal vegetation, being well-used for fishing. In places the damper soils support yellow iris
Iris pseudacorus, hard rush
Juncus inflexus, gipsywort
Lycopus europeaus, lesser pond sedge
Carex acutiformis, great willowherb
Epilobium hirsutum, soft rush
Juncus effusus, watermint
Mentha aquatica and reedmace
Typha latifolius. Otherwise, the lakes also support little in the way of aquatic vegetation. The banks of the lakes support scrub and trees, especially on some of the steeper slopes; this includes sycamore
Acer pseudoplatanus, silver birch, broom
Cytisus scoparius and goat willow
Salix caprea.
A small roadside area of coarse acid grassland in the north east corner of the site supports tansy
Tanacetum vulgare, Lady’s bedstraw
Galium verum, Oregon grape
Mahonia aquifolium, rough chervil
Chaerophyllum temulum, agrimony
Agrimonia eupatorium, creeping cinquefoil
Potentilla repens, knotgrass
Polygonum aviculare agg., field bindweed
Convolvulus arvensis, barren brome
Anisantha sterilis, perennial ryegrass
Lolium perenne and cocksfoot
Dactylis glomerata. The area is bounded by trees to the south.
Nightingale
Luscinia megarhynchos, slow-worm
Anguis fragilis and green hairstreak
Callophrys rubi were recorded on the site in 2019.
The site includes several tumuli, at least two of which are Scheduled Ancient Monuments and the Broome Heath Pit geological SSSI, in the north-east corner, which contains an exposure of an old river terrace deposited during the Wolstonian glacial stage.