Thetford Heaths is a biological and geological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. It is a

Nature Conservation Review ''A Nature Conservation Review'' is a two-volume work by Derek Ratcliffe, published by Cambridge University Press in 1977. It set out to identify the most important places for nature conservation in Great Britain. It is often known by the initial ...

site, Grade I, and parts of it are a national nature reserve, and a Geological Conservation Review, It is part of the Breckland Special Area of Conservation, and Special Protection Area A large part of this dry heathland site is

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...

grassland, and some areas are grazed by sheep or rabbits. There are several nationally rare plants and an uncommon heathland bird, and many lichens and mosses.

The site

Thetford Heaths is an area of dry heathland in the Breckland. A range of soil types gives rise to areas of a variety of grassland types including calcareous, neutral and acidic, as well as scrubland and regenerating deciduous woodland. Part of the site is owned by the Norfolk Naturalists Trust and is managed as the Thetford Heath National Nature Reserve, and part is used for training purposes by the army. The calcareous grassland is grazed in places by sheep and is dominated by sheep’s fescue, crested hair-grass and

meadow oat-grass A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artifi ...

. In the shortest, rabbit-nibbled turf, there may be little grass, and small herbs such as purple milkvetch, early forget-me-not and little mouse-ear may predominate, along with

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.bird's-foot trefoil ''Lotus corniculatus'' is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae, native to grasslands in temperate Eurasia and North Africa. Common names include common bird's-foot trefoil, eggs and bacon, birdsfoot deervetch, and just bird's-foot trefo ...

, lesser meadow-rue,

lady’s bedstraw ''Galium verum'' (lady's bedstraw or yellow bedstraw) is a herbaceous perennial plant of the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia from Israel, Lebanon and Turkey to Japan and Kamchatka. It is ...

and small scabious. Where they can get a foothold, annual species such as common whitlowgrass, thyme-leaved sandwort and shepherd’s cress occur. Other areas of heathland are dominated by heather, and lichens and mosses. Birds of importance in the Breckland include the

Eurasian stone-curlew The Eurasian stone-curlew, Eurasian thick-knee, or simply stone-curlew (''Burhinus oedicnemus'') is a northern species of the Burhinidae (stone-curlew) bird family. Taxonomy The Eurasian stone-curlew was Species description, formally described ...

, the European nightjar and the woodlark.

References

{{SSSIs Suffolk Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Suffolk Geological Conservation Review sites National nature reserves in England Nature Conservation Review sites