Natural Environment
Icklingham is within the area known as Breckland, an area of sandy heaths and forests. This area has a number of important natural habitats, including for the protected Stone Curlew. The village is surrounded by the Breckland Farmland Site of Special Scientific Interest and close to the Breckland Forest SSSI, both of which cover large area of Breckland and are two of the largest SSSI areas in England.
A number of smaller SSSI areas are found in the Icklingham area. These include Berner's Heath, the largest area of heather heathland in Breckland at 149.6 hectares (369.7 acres), and Deadman's Grave, a grassland heath area of 126.3 hectares (312.1 acres), both of which are north of the village. Cavenham-Icklingham Heaths, to the south-east of the village, is 418.8 hectares (1,034.9 acres) in area and includes a number of woodland habitats. All contain rare species such as Rosser's sac spider Clubiona rosserae and the soldier-fly Odontomyia angulata as well as Stone Curlew and plant species such as Breckland Wild Thyme Thymus serpyllum and Spring Speedwell Veronica verna.
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