Trees on a snowy Norton Common - geograph

Norton Common is a 25.7-hectare park and Local Nature Reserve in the centre of

Letchworth Garden City Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first Garden city movement, garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 United Kin ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. It is owned and managed by

North Hertfordshire District Council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, and the declaring authority is

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England. The council was created in 1889. It is responsible for a wide range of public services in the county, including social c ...

. The common has diverse wildlife including wildflowers in meadows, and

black squirrel Black squirrels are a melanistic subgroup of squirrels with black coloration on their fur. The phenomenon occurs with several species of squirrels, although it is most frequent with the eastern gray squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis'') and the ...

muntjac deer Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...

, and birds such as chiffchaff and

blackcap The Eurasian blackcap (''Sylvia atricapilla'') is a bird usually known simply as the blackcap. It is a common and widespread typical warbler. It has mainly olive-grey upperparts and pale grey underparts, and differences across the five subspec ...

in woodland. The

Pix Brook Pix Brook is a stream in England that flows through Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire and Stotfold in Bedfordshire, and meets the River Hiz north of Arlesey. Colloquially known as 'Dudleys Ditch' the river is the reason why local school E ...

, which is fed by mineral-rich springs, provides areas of marshland. Facilities provided at the Common include an outdoor swimming pool, bowling green, tennis courts and a skateboard arena. There is access from Icknield Way.

References

External links

Friends of Norton Common
{{Local Nature Reserves in Hertfordshire Parks and open spaces in Hertfordshire Local Nature Reserves in Hertfordshire North Hertfordshire District Letchworth