Suffolk walk: Knettishall Heath nature reserve

Knettishall Heath is one of my favourite places for a wander. It teems with wildlife, quite literally; on this most recent visit, I hadn't gone 200 metres from the car when a squirrel fell out of a tree onto the footpath.

It was quite a thud for such a small animal, but the squirrel was unhurt. It shook itself and scampered off sheepishly, leaving behind the rather insubstantial twig that had obviously proved unfit for purpose.

Squirrels, of course, are everywhere and thriving in Knettishall's woodland, but there is a lot more wildlife to see in the 175 hectares (432 acres) that make up this wonderful reserve managed by Suffolk Wildlife Trust.

Knettishall is a unique mosaic of woodland, heath and riverside. (Image: Jayne Lindill)

There are certain places in Suffolk where you get a real sense that you're walking in ancient footsteps and Knettishall Heath is one of them. The landscape here – lowland heath, grassland and woodland – has changed little since Anglo-Saxon times.

It's part of the Brecks, an area of 1,019 sq kilometres (93 sq miles) across Norfolk and Suffolk, that includes Thetford Forest and Kings Forest, collectively the largest lowland forest in the UK.

Brecks means 'broken ground' and the ancient heathland that once covered huge areas of this part of East Anglia was created by the axes of prehistoric farmers and the incessant grazing of sheep and rabbits.

Sign depicting the area of Knettishall Heath (Image: Jayne Lindill)

Brecks were temporary fields, cultivated for a few years and then left to revert to heath when the soil became exhausted. This is one of the driest parts of Britain and it's no surprise to learn that sand storms were once a regular occurrence. Indeed, the village of Santon Downham was engulfed by a sand storm in 1668.

Two thousand years ago, the Brecks were home to the Celtic tribe of the Iceni, and Gallows Hill in Thetford was an important ceremonial site. Queen Boudicca is thought to have ridden out from here, in her chariot, to challenge Roman rule.

For centuries this area was also mined for flint, at sites such as Grimes Graves – for prehistoric tools from 2,800 to 2,000 BC – and much later at Brandon for flintlock guns and decorative building stone. It's part of the history and landscape of the area... as are rabbits, introduced by the Normans in the twelfth century.

Foxgloves growing in Knettishall's woods. (Image: Jayne Lindill)

Rabbits were farmed for their meat and fur, carefully nurtured in special enclosures called warrens. Warrening in the Brecks was on an industrial scale, where the dry, sandy soil was easy for rabbits to burrow, resulting in the area having the largest concentration of warrens in Britain.

During the 16th and 17th centuries there were more than 26 warrens from Mildenhall to Thetford, some producing more than 20,000 rabbits a year. Fur processing factories were established in Brandon and meat was sent to London, Cambridge colleges and local markets.

The warrener was one of the highest paid manorial officials and lived with his family in a warren lodge, a fortified warren designed to protect the extremely valuable rabbits.

Knettishall's woodlands. (Image: Jayne Lindill)

But it wasn't until the 20th century that the open landscape created by our Bronze Age ancestors 4,000 years ago really changed. Large pine plantations and modern farming methods have transformed much of it into more productive land, while the remaining heathland and the more open parts of the forest are now vital for wildlife conservation.

The Brecks has also become a favourite place to enjoy the great outdoors and is visited by about 1.5 million people each year – not that you'd bump into them. This is a wonderfully quiet, peaceful place for humans and wildlife.

Knettishall Heath retains something of what the landscape would have looked like in the past. There's the 18th century rabbit warren and the Bronze Age burial mound at Hut Hill, evidence of thousands of years of human occupation.

At the western end of the heath, you can see something even older. An outstanding feature of the reserve is the ‘patterned ground’ produced at the end of the last ice age. Repeated freezing and thawing created a unique mixing of the sandy soil and the underlying chalk. The result is 'striped vegetation' where different plants grow in the two types of soil.

Knettishall Heath is what Suffolk Wildlife Trust describes as a 'unique mosaic of habitats' – woodland and riverside meadows, as well as large areas of heath. It supports some of the UK's rarest invertebrates and plants. In fact, out of more than 12,500 species living in the Brecks, 30 per cent are nationally rare.

The best way to enjoy Knettishall Heath is to follow one of the trails. There are six around the reserve, all very manageable, between one mile and 2.5 miles (1.6km and 4 km). The paths are excellent, although there was a bit of mud and standing water about after our prolonged wet spring. If you want to make the walk a long one, you can simply put the trails together and explore the whole reserve.

Ponies graze at Knettishall Heath. (Image: Jayne Lindill)

I struck it lucky with the weather; on a sunny afternoon the skylarks were rising to the heavens and singing their hearts out. I saw kestrels and buzzards, the foxgloves were humming with busy bumble bees and muntjac peered out at me from their hiding places among the woodland ferns.

I also met several of the ponies that graze Knettishall Heath all year round, helping to improve the health of the vegetation. They're quiet and accustomed to sharing their space with humans. One was quite curious and strolled up to me for a gentle stroke.

The ponies are part of SWT's efforts to restore areas of open heath lost since the 1940s and to return the reserve to a more natural grazed landscape where heathland merges into wood-pasture and woodland. This work has been ongoing since 2012 when the trust acquired Knettishall Heath, helped by a generous legacy from William and Mary McAtamney.

Mary loved nature and when William died, he left a gift in his will to buy land for wildlife in memory of Mary. This legacy provided the foundation for the purchase of Knettishall Heath and helped secure a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thank goodness for people like William and Mary.

Bees on the foxgloves. (Image: Jayne Lindill)