#674: Who owns Norfolk?

I'm going to be using Norfolk as a located example for quite a few elements of the course, including some of the habitats and flora and fauna along with other elements of the subject content. 

I've already started creating some of those. Some of them will take the form of StoryMaps.

Who owns Norfolk? is a valuable website to explore the ownership of land in the county.

Details:

Who Owns Norfolk? This project sought to provide more detailed local landownership data in Norfolk in support of Who Owns England? Particular focus was given to Norfolk's large land estates, and how these were managing their environmental and social responsibilities.

The landownership research started in 2020 and concluded in 2024. Part way through the project, due to time and resource constraints, it shifted to focusing on the West Norfolk district only. At the time of its conclusion, the project had mapped the owners of 70% of West Norfolk's land area.

From 2024 onwards, the project is seeking to map the areas of Norfolk that have been protected for nature - see Rewilding Norfolk.

#526: John Clare and an Inherited Perspective

Another name which I hope the new specification introduces young people to is the poet John Clare.

He is the subject of a book by the London-based writer and psychogeographer Iain Sinclair, who traced his footsteps. The cover of the book can be seen below. It is called 'Edge of the Orison'.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-clare

Click the link to download the whole eBook - thanks to Nottingham Trent University. (PDF download)

Image via Wikipedia - Public Domain

#246: Ditches

A very nice piece by Melissa Harrison in The Times on the 4th of November 2023 looked at the important role that ditches play in the landscape. This was followed up by a range of tweets on the value of ditches.

There is a tendency to focus on the grand elements of the landscape, but sometimes the smaller overlooked features are just as important for the wildlife that makes them a home: think about the rare ferns and other plants that thrive in the grykes on limestone pavements for example.

Those ditches are bursting with nature! pic.twitter.com/maNLeZiPU8

— Tom Clarke 🇺🇦 🌻 (@Tom_Clarke) April 28, 2023

In the Fens maybe more than anywhere else.

Ditches are our "inverted" hedgerows, and harbour some of the last strongholds for water voles and other critically endangered and red listed species. @FenlandSoil @CLR_Cambridge @NaturalCambs @BrianE_Cambs

— Tom Clarke 🇺🇦 🌻 (@Tom_Clarke) November 4, 2023

 Image: Fenland roads - Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license