Pete Stroh

ONLINE COURSE Wildflowers of the Suffolk steppe – the plants of Breckland

Tue 28 September 2021

online

Book
Breckland lies at the meeting of Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire and is unique in Britain in its combination of climate, soil and history. It has the closest approximation we have to a truly Continental climate and wind-blown sands of varying depths over chalk, providing inland habitats for coastal plants and a remarkable flora with species whose main distribution is in central and eastern Europe. The land bears the marks of glaciation, some of the most extensive Neolithic sites in Britain, a history of cultivation and abandonment, rare types of farming such as rabbit warrens and the modern impact of forestry and military training. The course will explore the history and ecology of Breckland, and focus on the uncommon and rare plants that make a walk over these heaths such a distinctive experience.

Working for 40 years as a plant ecologist, mostly at Monks Wood, Owen’s research focused on transport routes, on wetlands and on combining productive agriculture with effective conservation. Now retired, he divides his time between researching and writing about the Fenland and working on conservation projects in his other home of Romania.

Cost: £25