Black Bourn Valley | |
---|---|
Type | Nature reserve |
Location | Thurston, Suffolk |
OS grid | TL943650 |
Area | 88 hectares |
Managed by | Suffolk Wildlife Trust |
Black Bourn Valley, formerly called Grove Farm, is an 88 hectare nature reserve between Thurston and Elmswell in Suffolk. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. [1]
The River Black Bourn runs through this large nature reserve, which has many bird species, such as barn owls, yellowhammers, linnets, reed buntings and skylarks. Plants in wet meadows include marsh orchids and marsh marigolds. [1] The river has reportedly dried up during the 2022 European drought. [2]
There is access by going east out of Thurston along Barrell's Road, and turning south at the end. The entrance to the site, shown on the Ordnance Survey map and on the site as Grove Farm, is on the left just before the railway line.
The Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts which cover the United Kingdom. The EWT was founded in 1959, and it describes itself as Essex's leading conservation charity, which aims to protect wildlife for the future and the people of the county. As of January 2017, it has over 34,000 members and runs 87 nature reserves, 2 nature parks and 11 visitor centres.
Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) describes itself as the county's "nature charity – the only organisation dedicated wholly to safeguarding Suffolk's wildlife and countryside." It is a registered charity, and its headquarters is at Brooke House in Ashbocking, near Ipswich. It was founded in 1961, and is one of 46 wildlife trusts covering the Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As of March 2017, it has 13,200 members, and it manages 3,120 hectares of land in 60 nature reserves, most of which are open to the public. It had an income of £3.9 million in the year to 31 March 2017.
Darsham is a village in Suffolk, England. It is located approximately 4 miles (6 km) north east of Saxmundham. The village is bypassed by the A12 and is served by Darsham railway station, which is approximately one mile away from the village centre, on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line.
Lackford Lakes is a 105.8-hectare (261-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) north and east of Lackford in Suffolk. The SSSI is part of the 131-hectare (320-acre) Lackford Lakes nature reserve, which is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
Thorington is a village and a civil parish in the hundred of Blything, in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located around 3 miles (4.8 km) south-east of the town of Halesworth, immediately south of the village of Wenhaston. The A12 main road runs through the parish to the east of the village. Thorington Hall was demolished in 1949, but The Round House, a listed gamekeeper's lodge for the Thorington Estate, survives.
Frays Farm Meadows is a 28.2-hectare (70-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Denham in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was notified as an SSSI in 1981, and has been managed by the London Wildlife Trust on behalf of Hillingdon Council since 1999. It is part of the Colne Valley Regional Park.
Bull's Wood is a 12 hectare nature reserve east of Cockfield in Suffolk, England. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, and is part of the Thorpe Morieux Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Barnby Broad and Marshes is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the Waveney district of the English county of Suffolk. The site is 189.6 hectares in size. It is in the parishes of North Cove and Barnby, located between Beccles and Lowestoft in the north of the county. The site is bordered on its southern edge by the East Suffolk railway line and to the north by the River Waveney. It is a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protection Area under the EC Birds Directive, and a Ramsar internationally important wetland site. There are two Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserves in the site, Castle Marshes and North Cove.
Sizewell Marshes form a 260-acre biological Site of Special Scientific Interest adjacent to Sizewell in Suffolk. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is part of a 356-acre (144-ha) nature reserve managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust as Sizewell Belts.
Hen Reedbeds is a 55 hectare nature reserve near the North Sea coast of the English county of Suffolk. The reserve is located in the Blyth valley between Reydon and Blythburgh, approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Southwold. The marshes make up part of the Suffolk Coast National Nature Reserve along with reserves at Walberswick and Dingle Marshes.
Hazlewood Marshes is a 64 hectare nature reserve west of Aldeburgh in Suffolk. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. It is in the Alde-Ore Estuary biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Norah Hanbury-Kelk Meadows is an eight hectare nature reserve in Barton Mills in Suffolk. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
Roding Valley Meadows is an 18.9-hectare (47-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Buckhurst Hill in Essex. It is part of a 65.2 hectare Local Nature Reserve with the same name, which is owned by Epping Forest District Council and Grange Farm Trust, and managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.
Church Farm Marshes is a 56 hectare nature reserve in Thorington in Suffolk. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
Papermill Reedbed is a 6 hectare nature reserve in Bramford in Suffolk. It is owned by Blakenham Farms and managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
Ant Broads and Marshes is a 745.3-hectare (1,842-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-east of Norwich in Norfolk. Most of it is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 1, and it is part of the Broadland Ramsar and Special Protection Area, and The Broads Special Area of Conservation. Part of it is the Barton Broad nature reserve, which is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, and two areas are National Nature Reserves.