Holkham National
Nature Reserve

Welcome

Exploring the
National Nature Reserve

Foreshore

Saltmarsh

Dunes

Pinewoods and Scrub

Reclaimed Saltmarsh

Coastal Code

How predator control protects our vulnerable wildlife

Reaching Holkham

  

Exploring the
National Nature Reserve

 

Sandwich tern

 

HOLKHAM NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE stretches from Burnham Norton to Blakeney and covers about 4,000 hectares. It is possible to explore most of the area by following footpaths from the main settlements or from car parks. The core section of the reserve, from Wells to Holkham Bay, is crisscrossed by paths allowing access to all the best wildlife habitats.

Special sounds

Brent geese calling in flight between feeding grounds

Chattering or little terns at their breeding colonies

Whirring wings of a hawkmoth as it visits flowers on a still June evening

Screech of a barn owl when you aren't expecting it

Distant rumble of waves gathering before a gale

Silence in the pinewoods

Fluting, sad call of a grey plover over the saltmarsh

Singing (or croaking) of natterjacks on a spring evening

Reeling grasshopper warblers at Wells Dell and Meols House

Grasshoppers tuning up in the dunes

A few things to touch

Corsican pine park: rough, dry, deeply fissured

Pine cones stripped by squirrels or crossbills

The sharpness of thorns (dog-rose, bramble, hawthorn: they vary!)

Smoothness of pebbles on the beach

Polystyrene texture of a birch bracket fungus

Cold, clammy lobes of a birch bracket fungus

Cold, clammy lobes of a jew's ear fungus

Sand running through your fingers: different grain sizes in different places on the beach feel quite different

There are three car parks. At Burnham Overy parking is free but there is are charges for parking at Lady Anne's Drive and Wells Beach Road. The car parks are linked by the Norfolk Coast Path (a National Trail). To the east of Wells the footpath skirts a large area of saltmarsh and mudflats; tidal creeks are dangerous on a rising tide and this area should be avoided unless you have expert local knowledge.