Hales Green is registered common (CL39) and a County Wildlife Site (CWS 141). An extensive area of neutral grassland, it includes wet and dry grassland with ponds and a small amount of scrub. The site is surrounded by mature hedges, mainly of hawthorn and ash. The site is used for grazing cattle and has informal public access
Please note this site is not a Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve.
Habitat description from the Wildlife in Common Survey
Hales Green has been described as “a relatively rare survival of the kind of extensive area of common once typical of Norfolk’s claylands” (Norfolk Heritage Explorer,
www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk).
Across the site, the grassland is well grazed and relatively poor in herbs, with some areas such as pits and hollows being more species-rich. Grass dominates throughout, with a mixture of perennial rye grass (
Lolium perenne), Yorkshire fog (
Holocus lanata) and meadow foxtail (
Alopecurus pratensis) co-dominant. Crested dog’s tail (
Cynosaurus cristatus) is occasional.
Species of interest across the common include quaking grass (
Briza media), bee orchid (
Ophrys apifera), common spotted orchid (
Dactylorhiza fuchsii), pyramidal orchid (
Anacamptis pyramidalis), cowslip (
Primula veris), tubular water dropwort (
Oenanthe fistulosa), common spike rush (
Eleocharis palustris), Lady’s bedstraw (
Galium verum), celery-leaved buttercup (
Ranunculus scleratus), marsh foxtail (
Alopecurus geniculatus), water violet (
Hottonia palustris), common water crowfoot (
Ranunculus aquatilis) and pink/blue water speedwell (
Veronica x lackshewitzii).