Grass heath creation at Thomson Common

The light sand soil type at Watering Farm, Thompson Common, Norfolk offers potential for the creation of acid grass heath. This will provide a valuable complementary habitat to the wetlands of Thompson Common SSSI and transform the land back to the historic Breckland grass heath known to be present in the C18th.
Deep ploughing the land will bring the nutrient poor substrate to the surface to allow the natural regeneration to a grass heath habitat. Subsequent weed control and livestock grazing will allow the gradual re-establishment the new priority habitat.
Scrub clearance on the adjacent areas of Thompson Common will improve the connectivity between Watering Farm and the Common and restore pingos (ice age ponds) along the boundary which have been under scrub for many decades, providing additional habitat for Thompson’s rare invertebrate assemblages.
Future management of the grass heath will be secured through the provision of additional grazing infrastructure.