| Thursford Wood | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Nature reserve |
| Location | Fakenham, Norfolk |
| OS grid | TF 979 333 |
| Area | 10 hectares (25 acres) |
| Managed by | Norfolk Wildlife Trust |
Thursford Wood is a 10-hectare (25-acre) nature reserve north-east of Fakenham in Norfolk. It is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. [1]
Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about 19 miles north east of King's Lynn, 19 miles south west of Cromer, and 25 miles north west of Norwich.
Norfolk is a county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the northwest, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea and, to the north-west, The Wash. The county town is Norwich. With an area of 2,074 square miles (5,370 km2) and a population of 859,400, Norfolk is a largely rural county with a population density of 401 per square mile. Of the county's population, 40% live in four major built up areas: Norwich (213,000), Great Yarmouth (63,000), King's Lynn (46,000) and Thetford (25,000).
The Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) is one of forty-seven wildlife trusts covering Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and Alderney. Founded in 1926, it is the oldest of all the trusts. It has over 35,500 members and eight local groups and it manages more than fifty nature reserves and other protected sites. It also gives conservation advice to individuals and organisations, provides educational services to young people on field trips and organises entertainment and information events at nature reserves. The NWT reserves include twenty-six Sites of Special Scientific Interests, nine National Nature Reserves, twelve Nature Conservation Review sites, sixteen Special Areas of Conservation, twelve Special Protection Areas, eleven Ramsar sites, two Local Nature Reserves, four Geological Conservation Review sites and five which are in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The oak trees in this wood are some of the oldest in the county, and some may be over 500 years old. The site also has a variety of woodland birds, as well as many ferns and fungi. [1]
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 600 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus, as well as in those of unrelated species such as Grevillea robusta and the Casuarinaceae (she-oaks). The genus Quercus is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cool temperate to tropical latitudes in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and North Africa. North America contains the largest number of oak species, with approximately 90 occurring in the United States, while Mexico has 160 species of which 109 are endemic. The second greatest center of oak diversity is China, which contains approximately 100 species.
The site is open to the public.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thursford Wood . |
