{"id":645572,"date":"2026-06-18T16:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645572\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T16:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:10:13","slug":"norfolk-farm-transformed-into-species-rich-patch-for-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645572\/","title":{"rendered":"Norfolk farm transformed into species-rich patch for nature"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  At Massingham Heath on the Little Massingham Estate in West Norfolk, nearly 1,200 acres of species-rich grassland have been created.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The project was delivered through Natural England\u2019s agri-environment schemes and led by Ed Cross, a tenant farmer on the Sandringham Estate.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Massingham Estate wild poppies (Image: Tim Baldwin)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  John Ebbage, Nature Recovery Manager at Natural England, said: &#8220;The wildlife response has been remarkable, with the return of species including Skylarks, Goshawk, Hobby, Woodlark and Stonechat.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;The Dingy Skipper butterfly, absent from the area for 15 years, has returned, as have Wasp Spiders, Oil Beetles and the beautiful Pyramidal Orchid.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The land, once intensively farmed and reliant on fertilisers, is now managed through conservation grazing using Konik ponies, Bagot goats and Tamworth pigs.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Massingham Estate Pyramidal Orchid (Image: Tim Baldwin)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  This method helps control invasive species and promotes natural habitat development.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Olly Birkbeck, owner of the Massingham Estate, said: &#8220;Massingham Heath has now become a biodiverse landscape where nature can thrive.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The restored heathland is part of the proposed West Norfolk Nature Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Massingham Heath on the Little Massingham Estate in West Norfolk, nearly 1,200 acres of species-rich grassland have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-645572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}