A Living Landscape for Norfolk’s wildlife and people

 
Norfolk Wildlife Trust is working to secure space for wildlife by restoring Norfolk’s countryside on a landscape scale.

We aim to restore, recreate and reconnect our wildlife habitats so that wildlife has a better chance of surviving climate change. Our vision for Norfolk is a Living Landscape - a joined up landscape where species can expand their range and move through a wildlife-rich countryside along networks of linked habitat. This is a vision shared by all the Wildlife Trusts in the UK.

NWT has identified a number of priority areas where we shall be focussing our efforts. These Living Landscape project areas have been selected to cover some of the key wildlife areas in Norfolk and other areas where there are opportunities to create new habitats. In the future, further initiatives will be developed. Read more about each one using the links in the left menu.

A Living Landscape for Norfolk’s wildlife

For over eight decades Norfolk Wildlife Trust has been leading conservation efforts in Norfolk. It has saved some of the county’s most important wildlife sites by protecting them as nature reserves. As the ecological anchor of a Living Landscape, our nature reserves are more important than ever, and the larger they are, the better for wildlife. Now we need to link these wildlife oases and restore ecosystems.

Our goal is whole landscapes that are richer in wildlife – Living Landscapes with nature reserves, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and County Wildlife Sites at their heart, from which species can move through a wildlife-rich countryside along networks of linked habitat.

The effects of climate change - already being witnessed - mean many plants and animals will need to move in search of suitable conditions: a 2°C rise in temperature will shift the natural range of some species more than 150 miles to the North. The fragmentation of habitat is one of the main threats to wildlife in Norfolk. Small isolated populations of species are the most vulnerable - stranded in pockets of disconnected habitat, they will struggle to respond to the changing conditions. Wildlife needs to adapt and for that to happen, the landscape both urban and rural, needs to be addressed as a whole.

In partnership with Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service we have completed a pioneering project to map the county’s most valuable wildlife habitat. From this we have highlighted the best opportunities to link up habitat and create the joined-up countryside that wildlife needs.

…and people

Driven by local people and aspirations, Norfolk Wildlife Trust plays a leading role not just in developing the vision but in gaining the support that can allow communities to drive their own change. We do this by working closely with community groups, businesses, land managers and local authorities on landscape-scale projects around the county.

The whole really is much greater than the sum of the individual parts…wildlife friendly gardens alongside allotments, next to a village green and churchyard, near flower-rich road verges, crossed by a stream linked to field margins managed for wildlife.

The total area of land managed by gardeners in Norfolk far exceeds the area of nature reserves owned by Norfolk Wildlife Trust, and all are vital to creating a Living Landscape. Through small and large actions, often led by local people, this vision of a whole landscape richer in wildlife can be achieved.

A Living Landscape will create a web of habitat across Norfolk and swathes of wildlife-rich countryside, managed for wildlife and open for people to enjoy. Nature has so many uses – it can temper the climate, clean the air, regulate the flow of water, give us space in which to play and heal our minds and bodies. It is time to channel it back into the heart of all our lives.

Download our Vision for A Living Landscape brochure