List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Suffolk facts for kids

This page is about SSSIs in Suffolk. For other counties, see List of SSSIs by Area of Search.

View over a pond from a bird hide at Lackford Lakes

Suffolk is a county in East Anglia, a region in eastern England. It shares borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west, Essex to the south, and the North Sea to the east. Suffolk is quite large, covering about 3,797 square kilometers (1,466 square miles), and in 2016, around 745,000 people lived there.

Many of Suffolk's coastal areas are where rivers like the Orwell, Stour, Alde, Deben, and Blyth meet the sea. These areas have lots of wetlands and marshes, which are important for wildlife. Farming and shipping are big parts of Suffolk's economy.

In England, special places called Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are chosen by Natural England. This is a government body that works to protect England's natural environment. When a place becomes an SSSI, it gets legal protection because it's important for wildlife or geology. As of October 2017, Suffolk had 142 SSSIs. Most of these (109) are important for their plants and animals (biological), 28 are important for their rocks and landforms (geological), and 5 are important for both.

Some SSSIs are located within beautiful natural areas. For example, one is in the Dedham Vale National Landscape, which is a special "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" (AONB). Thirty-six others are in another AONB called Suffolk Coast and Heaths. Many SSSIs also have other special protections, like being Special Areas of Conservation or Special Protection Areas for birds. Some are also Ramsar sites, which means they are internationally important wetlands.

The biggest SSSI in Suffolk is Breckland Forest, covering a huge 18,126 hectares (44,790 acres). It's partly in Norfolk and is home to rare insects. The smallest SSSI is a tiny 0.1-hectare (0.25-acre) meadow in London Road Industrial Estate, Brandon. This small spot has the largest known wild group in Britain of a very rare sunflower called Artemisia campestris.

Understanding the Sites
Special Places in Suffolk
Images for kids
See also
Sources

Understanding the Sites

Here's a quick guide to what the symbols mean for each SSSI:

What Kind of Interest?

B = This site is important for its plants, animals, or other living things (biological interest).
G = This site is important for its rocks, fossils, or landforms (geological interest).

Can You Visit?

FP = You can only access footpaths that go through the site.
NO = There is no public access to this site.
PL = You can visit the site, but only at certain times.
PP = You can visit some parts of the site.
YES = You can visit most or all of the site.

Other Special Names

DVAONB = Dedham Vale National Landscape, a beautiful natural area.
GCR = Geological Conservation Review, meaning it's a top geological site.
LNR = Local nature reserve, a place protected by local councils.
NCR = A Nature Conservation Review, a list of important wildlife sites.
NNR = National nature reserve, a major protected area.
NT = National Trust, a charity that protects historic places and nature.
Ramsar = Ramsar site, an internationally important wetland.
RSPB = Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, a bird conservation charity.
SAC = Special Area of Conservation, a European protected site for habitats and species.
SCHAONB = Suffolk Coast and Heaths, another beautiful natural area.
SM = Scheduled monument, a nationally important historic site.
SPA = Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, a European protected site for birds.
SWT = Suffolk Wildlife Trust, a local charity that protects wildlife.

Special Places in Suffolk

Abbey Wood, Flixton

This is an ancient woodland managed using a traditional method called coppice with standards. This means some trees are cut back regularly (coppice) while others are left to grow tall (standards). Common trees here include hazel, hornbeam, and oak. The ground is covered with many different plants, including dog's mercury, and a rare plant called thin-spiked wood sedge.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Flixton
Area: 18.0 hectares (44.5 acres)

Alde–Ore Estuary

Natural England says this site is "outstanding and diverse" for science. It has the second largest and best-kept area of vegetated shingle (a type of beach with plants) in Britain. Many important birds live here, and there are several rare spiders. Gedgrave Cliff has very old fossils from about 5 million years ago.

Interest: Biological, Geological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 2,534.0 hectares (6,261.6 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, NCR, NNR, NT, Ramsar, RSPB, SAC, SCHAONB, SPA, SWT

Aldeburgh Brick Pit

This pit has layers of earth from the Pleistocene period, which started about 2.6 million years ago. It's one of the few places with deposits from the Bramertonian Stage, about 2 million years ago. This site has been very important for studying the early Pleistocene in the area.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Aldeburgh
Area: 0.9 hectares (2.2 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Arger Fen

Most of this site is ancient woodland, but it also has areas of fen (a type of wetland) and wet grassland. A part called Tiger Hill has dry, acidic grassland with old anthills, mosses, and lichens. You might also spot badger setts here.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Sudbury
Area: 49.7 hectares (122.8 acres)
Other Classifications: DVAONB, LNR, SWT

Barking Woods

These ancient woodlands have been recorded since 1251! The main trees are oak, ash, and silver birch. You can also find the rare wild pear. The ground is full of different plants, including herb paris, ramsons, sanicle, and early purple orchid.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Ipswich
Area: 98.7 hectares (243.9 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Barnby Broad and Marshes

This site features grazing marshes, fen, carr woodland (a type of wet woodland), open water, and ditches. It has many different plant groups, including rare ones. Several rare birds breed here, and it's also interesting for insects. Otters hunt in the fen and waterways.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Beccles
Area: 192.7 hectares (476.2 acres)
Other Classifications: Ramsar, SAC, SPA, SWT

Barnham Heath

This site has areas of acidic heathland with damp grassland in river valleys. Old gravel pits and scrubby areas have created good homes for birds like nightingales and whitethroats. On the open heathland, you might see stone-curlews (a protected species) and wheatears. Six types of lichen and eight types of moss have been found here.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Barnham
Area: 78.6 hectares (194.2 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SPA

Bawdsey Cliff

This 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) long section of cliff shows the largest exposure of the Early Pleistocene Red Crag Formation. It's full of fossils of marine molluscs (like snails and shells). Natural England says it's very important for studying non-glacial (not caused by ice ages) environments from the Pleistocene period.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Felixstowe
Area: 17.4 hectares (43.0 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Berner's Heath

Most of this heath is covered by heather, but there are also areas of woodland, scrub, calcareous (chalky) grassland, and grassland rich in lichens. The heather is burned in different sections at different times, which helps it grow in various ages. The oldest heather has the most diverse plants and insects.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Limited times
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 235.9 hectares (583.0 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SAC, SPA

Bixley Heath

This site has dry heath on higher ground and swamp in a valley bottom. The heath is mostly covered by common heather, with other plants like bell heather and sheep's fescue. In the swamp, there's a thick patch of lesser pond-sedge.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Ipswich
Area: 5.1 hectares (12.6 acres)
Other Classifications: LNR

Black Ditches, Cavenham

This grassland is rich in different plant species, which is rare in East Anglia. It's located on an old Anglo-Saxon earthwork (a type of ancient boundary). There are several plants here that are rare both locally and nationally. Chalky scrub and deciduous woodland also add to the site's ecological interest.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 1.6 hectares (4.0 acres)
Other Classifications: SM

Blaxhall Heath

This dry lowland heath has large areas of heather that support many different lichens and mosses. Other grassy areas are grazed by rabbits. Heathland birds like nightjars and tree pipits can be found here.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 45.9 hectares (113.4 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB, SM, SPA, SWT

Blo' Norton and Thelnetham Fens

This site is mainly known for its open carr fen communities (wetlands with scattered trees), but it also has carr woodland and meadows. The calcareous (chalky) fen plants include black bog rush, saw sedge, purple moor grass, and the rare fen orchid.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Thelnetham
Area: 21.2 hectares (52.4 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SAC, SWT

Bobbitshole, Belstead

This is a very important geological site, known as the "type locality" for the warm Ipswichian interglacial period, which happened about 130,000 to 115,000 years ago. It has continuous layers of earth from the end of the cold Wolstonian period right through the Ipswichian. Natural England calls it a "nationally important Pleistocene reference site."

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Ipswich
Area: 1.7 hectares (4.2 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Bradfield Woods

These woods have been managed by coppicing (cutting trees back to the stump to encourage new growth) since before 1252! This has led to a huge variety of plants, with over 370 different species recorded. Rare woodland flowers include oxlip, herb paris, and ramson. There's also a rich variety of fungi, with two species found nowhere else in Britain.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 81.4 hectares (201.1 acres)
Other Classifications: NNR, SWT

Breckland Farmland

This site is special because it has an internationally important population of stone-curlews. These birds nest in March on bare ground in farmed fields with very short plants. They prefer fields with sugar beet and vegetables where they won't be disturbed by people.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Brandon
Area: 13,392.4 hectares (33,093.3 acres)
Other Classifications: SPA

Breckland Forest

This forest is home to internationally important numbers of breeding Woodlarks and nightjars. It also has several nationally rare plants and insects listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. There are also geological sites that show how the environment and humans changed in East Anglia during the Middle Pleistocene period.

Interest: Biological, Geological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Brandon
Area: 18,126.0 hectares (44,790.4 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, LNR, SPA

Brent Eleigh Woods

This site is made up of three separate areas: Spragg’s, Langley, and Camps Woods. They are ancient woodlands on calcareous (chalky) clay soils. The main trees are oak and ash, and there are also ponds and a stream.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Sudbury
Area: 31.7 hectares (78.3 acres)

Buckanay Farm Pit, Alderton

This site is rich in fossils and shows rocks from the marine Red Crag Formation. It has a "megaripple" sequence, which means you can see how the sea gradually became shallower. The Red Crag period spans the end of the Pliocene (about 2.6 million years ago) and the start of the Pleistocene period.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 0.7 hectares (1.7 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Bugg's Hole Fen, Thelnetham

This calcareous (chalky) fen in the valley of the River Little Ouse has many different habitats. The fen grassland has plants like grass of parnassus and bog pimpernel. In the marsh grassland, you'll find southern marsh orchid and marsh pennywort. Spring-fed tall fen areas have lesser water parsnip.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Thelnetham
Area: 3.7 hectares (9.1 acres)

Burgate Wood

This is an ancient woodland managed as coppice with standards, with oak and hornbeam trees. The plants on the ground are very diverse, including the rare lungwort and the uncommon herb paris, yellow archangel, and hairy woodrush.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Burgate
Area: 29.9 hectares (73.9 acres)
Other Classifications: SM

Cavendish Woods

These ancient woods are managed as coppice with standards. The main tall tree is oak, and the ground is covered with many different plants, including the uncommon oxlip. There are many fallow deer here, and breeding birds include woodcock, common snipe, and treecreeper.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Sudbury
Area: 53.5 hectares (132.2 acres)

Cavenham–Icklingham Heaths

This site has heath and grassland, with smaller areas of woodland and fen, all within the flood-plain of the River Lark. Natural England says it's nationally important for its insect species, including some that are rare and endangered. It also has nationally rare plants and rare mosses and liverworts (called bryophytes).

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 419.0 hectares (1,035.4 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, NNR, SAC, SPA

Cherry Hill and The Gallops, Barton Mills

This site includes road verges with calcareous (chalky) grassland that has four nationally rare plants and two locally uncommon ones: sand catchfly and yellow medick. There's also a strip of pine trees that provides a home for several rare insects.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 10.4 hectares (25.7 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR

Chillesford Church Pit

This site has layers of earth from the Early Pleistocene Bramertonian Stage, which was about 2.4 to 1.8 million years ago. Fossils of molluscs (like snails) and pollen show that the climate was temperate during the Chillesford Crag period, which is part of the Norwich Crag Formation.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 1.1 hectares (2.7 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Chippenhall Green

This is an untouched grassland area on calcareous (chalky) clay soil. It has grasses like meadow foxtail, sweet vernal grass, and red fescue. Many different flowering plants grow here, including cuckoo flowers and a large group of green-winged orchids.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Eye
Area: 16.3 hectares (40.3 acres)

Combs Wood

This is an ancient woodland that was traditionally managed by coppicing. The soil is boulder clay, but it also has varying amounts of sand and loess, which means different types of soil are found here. In areas with pedunculate oak and hornbeam, the ground plants are sparse. However, in ash and maple woodland, the plants are rich and diverse. Grassy paths and a pond create extra homes for insects.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Stowmarket
Area: 15.1 hectares (37.3 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Cornard Mere

This site has many different habitats, including fen (a type of wetland) that floods seasonally, ruderal (weedy) herb plants, woodland, grassland, and scrub. Plants here include water mint, gypsywort, skullcap, ragged robin, and southern marsh orchid.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Sudbury
Area: 8.5 hectares (21.0 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Corton Cliffs

Natural England calls this a "nationally important" site because it's the "type locality" for the Anglian glaciation, a major ice age that happened about 450,000 years ago. The Anglian was the most extreme ice age of the Pleistocene epoch. This site shows the complete Anglian sequence and how it relates to the earlier Cromerian stage.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Lowestoft
Area: 5.5 hectares (13.6 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Crag Farm Pit, Sudbourne

This site dates back to the early Pliocene period, about 4 million years ago. Natural England describes it as an important geological site because it has the best exposure of sandwave facies (layers of rock formed in a specific way) of the Coralline Crag Formation. Fossils of many bryozoan species (tiny colonial animals) are found here.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 4.8 hectares (11.9 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Crag Pit, Aldeburgh

This is the most northern site that shows the Pliocene Coralline Crag Formation, which is about 5 million years old. It has many rich and diverse fossils, including lots of bryozoans, and other creatures like serpulids (tube worms) and various boring forms (organisms that drill into shells).

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Aldeburgh
Area: 0.2 hectares (0.5 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Crag Pit, Sutton

This small, old quarry has short, rabbit-grazed grassland. It's home to one of only two British groups of the endangered Small Alison flowering plant. Other herbs found here include the uncommon mossy stonecrop.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 0.7 hectares (1.7 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB

Cransford Meadow

This untouched meadow has a rich variety of plants. You'll find grasses like creeping bent, meadow foxtail, sweet vernal-grass, crested dog's tail, perennial rye-grass, and rough-stalked meadow-grass. It's also one of only two places in Suffolk where you can find ladies mantle Alchemilla filicaulis vestita.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 4.6 hectares (11.4 acres)

Creeting St Mary Pits

These old quarries are the "type site" for the 'Creeting Sands'. These sands are thought to be deposits from shallow seas and tidal areas during an early Pleistocene interglacial period. Natural England describes it as a very important site for understanding the layers of earth (stratigraphy).

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Ipswich
Area: 5.4 hectares (13.3 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Deadman's Grave, Icklingham

Natural England states that this site "is largely covered by short, sheep-grazed, species-rich calcareous grassland of the very highest value." It has four nationally rare plants: Spanish catchfly, Boehmer's cat's-tail, Breckland Wild Thyme, and spring speedwell. Nationally rare stone-curlews also breed here.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 127.3 hectares (314.6 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SAC, SPA

Deben Estuary SSSI

This site is an SSSI because it's important for birds that spend the winter here (overwintering waders and wildfowl) and for its diverse saltmarshes. It has internationally important numbers of overwintering redshanks and nationally important numbers of dark-bellied brent geese, shelducks, and black-tailed godwits. The estuary also has three nationally rare plants and a nationally rare mollusc (a type of shellfish).

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 981.1 hectares (2,424.3 acres)
Other Classifications: Ramsar, SCHAONB, SPA

Dew's Ponds

This site has various types of grassland, hedges, and ditches, on chalk covered by boulder clay. It's mainly an SSSI because it has twelve ponds with one of the largest breeding groups of great crested newts in Britain. You can also find grass snakes, smooth newts, and slowworms here.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Halesworth
Area: 6.7 hectares (16.6 acres)
Other Classifications: SAC

Edwardstone Woods

These are ancient woodlands managed as coppice with standards. They are mainly ash, maple, and hazel, but some areas have large stands of hornbeam and small-leaved lime. The diverse plants on the ground are typical of Suffolk's boulder clay soils.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Sudbury
Area: 27.0 hectares (66.7 acres)

Elmsett Park Wood

This site, managed as coppice with standards, has different types of woodland and ground plants. Plants that show it's an ancient woodland include nettle-leaved bellflower, wood spurge, butterfly orchid, and the uncommon spurge laurel.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Ipswich
Area: 8.6 hectares (21.3 acres)

Eriswell Low Warren

This site is mostly untouched acidic grassland on sandy soils, with various typical Breckland plants. There are also areas with lots of lichens and bryophytes (mosses and liverworts). Rare plants include purple-stem cat's-tail, spring speedwell, Spanish catchfly, and perennial knawel.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Brandon
Area: 7.4 hectares (18.3 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SPA

Fakenham Wood and Sapiston Great Grove

These two woodlands, managed as coppice with standards, are one of the largest ancient woodland areas in Suffolk. The ground is mostly covered by bracken and bramble. However, the paths (rides) provide homes for butterflies, including the largest group of white admirals in Suffolk.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 200.7 hectares (496.0 acres)

Ferry Cliff, Sutton

This site shows rocks from the paleocene period, about 60 million years ago. It has the oldest British fossils of rodents and ungulates (hoofed animals), both even-toed and odd-toed. It also has early hyracotheriums (ancient horse-like animals).

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Footpaths only
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 2.8 hectares (6.9 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Flixton Quarry

This site has sands and gravels that are thought to be glacial outwash (material carried and deposited by glaciers) from the most extreme ice age of the Pleistocene epoch, the Anglian glaciation, about 450,000 years ago. Natural England says it's important because of how it relates to deposits from the later Hoxnian Stage.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bungay
Area: 0.2 hectares (0.5 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Fox Fritillary Meadow

This untouched meadow is in a valley bottom on heavy alluvial (river-deposited) soils. It has a rich variety of plants, including cowslip, cuckooflower, and ragged robin. It also has the largest group in East Anglia of the rare snake's head fritillary.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Stowmarket
Area: 2.4 hectares (5.9 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Foxhole Heath

The heath is mostly covered by lichens and mosses, with smaller areas of heather and grassland. Much of it is grazed by rabbits. There are three nationally rare plants and one rare bird, the stone-curlew. Over one percent of the stone-curlews in Britain breed here, and they also use it as a gathering place before their autumn migration.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Brandon
Area: 85.2 hectares (210.5 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SAC, SPA

Freston and Cutler's Woods with Holbrook Park

These ancient woods have types of woodland typical of spring-fed valleys and light sandy soils. Holbrook Park has coppice stools (stumps that regrow) over 3 meters (10 feet) wide, among the largest in Britain. Sweet chestnut, which was brought here in the Middle Ages, is common. Other trees include the rare wild service tree.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Ipswich
Area: 142.0 hectares (350.9 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB

Frithy and Chadacre Woods

These are ancient semi-natural woods of the wet ash and maple type. The diverse plants on the ground include early purple orchid, twayblade, gromwell, and bluebell.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 28.7 hectares (70.9 acres)

The Gardens, Great Ashfield

These ancient meadows are traditionally managed by grazing animals and cutting for hay. They have a rich variety of plants, such as green-winged orchid, bee orchid, common twayblade, pepper saxifrage, adder's tongue fern, and ox-eye daisy.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 3.8 hectares (9.4 acres)

Gedgrave Hall Pit

This site has two pits dating to the early Pliocene Coralline Crag Formation. The smaller pit has many well-preserved mollusc fossils, while the fossils in the larger pit are very worn and not well preserved.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 0.6 hectares (1.5 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Gipping Great Wood

This is an ancient woodland managed as coppice with standards, with various types of woodland. There are many hornbeams, and other trees include oak and ash. Wet paths, a pond, and a stream add to the site's ecological interest.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Stowmarket
Area: 25.9 hectares (64.0 acres)

Glemsford Pits

Thirteen types of dragonfly and damselfly have been found in these old gravel pits, including one that is rare in Britain, the ruddy darter dragonfly. Water plants include the yellow water-lily and mare's tail.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Sudbury
Area: 33.2 hectares (82.0 acres)

The Glen Chalk Caves, Bury St Edmunds

Tunnels totaling 200 meters (656 feet) in length spread out from a chalk pit, which also has an old lime kiln. The tunnels and kiln are used by five types of bats for hibernation. The plants around the caves help keep the right temperature and humidity inside. The main bats are Daubenton's, Natterer's, and brown long-eared bats.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 1.6 hectares (4.0 acres)

Gosbeck Wood

This is an ancient woodland managed as coppice with standards, mainly on boulder clay, with some sandy soil areas. Dog's mercury is the most common plant on the ground, and other plants include spurge laurel, wood spurge, herb paris, and hairy woodrush.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Ipswich
Area: 22.8 hectares (56.3 acres)

Great Blakenham Pit

Natural England describes this as a key site for studying the Pleistocene period. It has layers of earth from the early and middle Pleistocene, including deposits from the ancient path of the River Thames through East Anglia, and from the severe Anglian ice age about 450,000 years ago.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Great Blakenham
Area: 2.3 hectares (5.7 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Gromford Meadow

This untouched base-rich meadow is fed by springs. It has diverse plants, with meadowsweet being the most common. Other plants include yellow rattle, meadow foxtail, ragged robin, marsh thistle, and lesser spearwort.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Saxmundham
Area: 1.7 hectares (4.2 acres)

Groton Wood

Fifteen types of butterflies have been seen in this wood, including brimstones, speckled woods, and purple hairstreaks. There are many wild cherry trees and twenty-two seasonal ponds, which are home to scarce and protected great crested newts.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Sudbury
Area: 20.2 hectares (49.9 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Gypsy Camp Meadows, Thrandeston

These wet meadows on poorly drained boulder clay have a rich variety of plants. Drainage ditches, drier grassland areas, and hedges add to the diversity. Plants include early purple orchid, ragged robin, zig-zag clover, and water avens.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Diss
Area: 2.4 hectares (5.9 acres)

Hascot Hill Pit

This is the only known site that shows beach deposits from the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene Red Crag Formation. It has beach cobbles and fossils from a littoral (shoreline) environment, while other Red Crag sites have deposits from deeper water.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Stowmarket
Area: 0.3 hectares (0.7 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Hay Wood, Whepstead

This ancient wood on poorly drained boulder clay has coppice trees of small-leaved lime and field maple with a layer of hazel underneath. Plants include wood spurge, herb Paris, ramsons, and early purple orchid.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 10.4 hectares (25.7 acres)

High House Meadows, Monewden

These untouched meadows have diverse herbs typical of clay pastures. There are scarce species like autumn crocus, green-winged orchid, sulphur clover, and adders-tongue fern.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 3.0 hectares (7.4 acres)

Hintlesham Woods

These ancient woodlands, managed as coppice with standards, are mainly oak with some ash and birch. The soils are boulder clay, covered in some areas with glacial sands. Ground plants include green hellebore, bird's-nest orchid, and wood spurge.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Ipswich
Area: 118.1 hectares (291.8 acres)
Other Classifications: RSPB, NCR

Holton Pit

This is the only known site that shows the sequence of the early Pleistocene Westleton Beds along with the overlying Kesgrave Gravels. The Westleton Beds are a coastal gravel accumulation, and the site is close to where they end inland, helping us understand their boundaries.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Halesworth
Area: 1.6 hectares (4.0 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Hopton Fen

This fen, dominated by reeds, has diverse plants, including devil's bit scabious, black bog-rush, bogbean, and early marsh orchid. The Suffolk Wildlife Trust is improving the site by digging new pools and introducing grazing animals to bring back the open landscape.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Diss
Area: 15.3 hectares (37.8 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Horringer Court Caves

This site has over 500 meters (1,640 feet) of chalk mines with five gated entrances. Bats use these mines for hibernation, and they have been studied since 1947. The main bats are Daubenton's, but other species include the very rare barbastelle, which has been seen eight times in 36 years.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 3.8 hectares (9.4 acres)

How Hill Track

This grassland site provides good conditions for seven rare plants, including perennial knawel, small alison, purple-stem cat's tail, and sickle medick.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 3.1 hectares (7.7 acres)
Other Classifications: SPA

Hoxne Brick Pit

In 1797, John Frere suggested that flint hand axes he found here were ancient weapons made by early humans. This was the first time anyone recognized that hand axes were made by early humans! This world-famous site also has the "type deposits" for the Hoxnian Stage, an interglacial period between about 424,000 and 374,000 years ago, which is named after this site.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Eye
Area: 1.3 hectares (3.2 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Iken Wood

This is probably the only ancient coppice wood on blown sand in Britain. Huge oak standards (tall trees left to grow) are common, and there are stools (stumps that regrow) with a diameter of 3 meters (10 feet). Other trees include silver birch, holly, and rowan.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 5.3 hectares (13.1 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB

Ipswich Heaths

This site has two separate areas: Martlesham Heath and Purdis Heath. They contain heather heath and acid grassland, with patches of bracken and gorse. This mix of habitats is great for butterflies like the silver-studded blue, common blue, and small heath.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Ipswich
Area: 39.4 hectares (97.4 acres)

Kentwell Woods

This site has a variety of different woodland types. The most common is wet ash and maple, with hazel also common. They were managed as coppice with standards in the past and have ground plants typical of ancient woods.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Sudbury
Area: 77.6 hectares (191.8 acres)

Knettishall Heath

This site is heath and grassland, mostly on acidic soils, with areas of younger woodland and wet hollows. Heathland plants like sheep's sorrel, tormentil, harebell, and heath bedstraw grow here. Wet areas have fen plants, including water mint and yellow iris.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Thetford
Area: 91.7 hectares (226.6 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Lackford Lakes

The lakes are old sand and gravel pits in the valley of the River Lark. They have many different dragonfly species and lots of breeding and overwintering birds, including nationally important numbers of gadwalls and shovelers. Skylarks breed on dry grassland, and lapwings breed in marshy meadows.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 105.8 hectares (261.4 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Lakenheath Poor's Fen

This site is mainly fen (wetland) with diverse plants, and it also has areas of damp grassland, ditches, and dykes. The grassland is grazed by cattle and has flowering plants like marsh pennywort and cuckoo flower. The site has a nationally rare plant, marsh pea.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Brandon
Area: 5.2 hectares (12.8 acres)

Lakenheath Warren

This is the largest remaining area of heath in the Breckland. It has been used for sheep grazing and as a rabbit warren since the 13th century, continuing until World War II. There are several rare lichens and plants, and over fifty types of breeding birds.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Brandon
Area: 588.3 hectares (1,453.7 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SAC, SPA

Landguard Common

This landform (a spit) on the northern edge of Felixstowe has a vegetated shingle beach, which is a fragile and rare habitat. Plants include sea kale, yellow horned poppy, sea sandwort, sea campion, and sea pea. Areas of saltmarsh provide cover for small birds.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Felixstowe
Area: 30.5 hectares (75.4 acres)
Other Classifications: LNR

Laurel Farm Meadow

This mesotrophic grassland site has diverse plants. It's a type of meadow that is rare in Britain and not found in mainland Europe. The soil is chalky clay that gets waterlogged seasonally. There are eleven types of grass, herbs like fairy flax and cowslip, and many green-winged orchids.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Halesworth
Area: 1.6 hectares (4.0 acres)

Leiston - Aldeburgh

This diverse site has open water, fen, acid grassland, scrub, woodland, heath, and vegetated shingle. There are many breeding and overwintering birds, lots of dragonflies, and nationally scarce plants like mossy stonecrop and clustered clover.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Aldeburgh
Area: 534.8 hectares (1,321.5 acres)
Other Classifications: LNR, RSPB, SCHAONB, SM, SPA

Lineage Wood & Railway Track, Long Melford

Lineage Wood has grassy paths (rides) with diverse plants, especially orchids like the greater butterfly, fly orchid, common spotted, and bee orchid. 22 types of butterflies have been recorded. The old railway line also has grassland rich in flowers, but the soil is more alkaline.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Sudbury
Area: 78.7 hectares (194.5 acres)

Lingwood Meadows

These ancient meadows are one of the few remaining examples of untouched grassland in Suffolk. They have diverse plants, and 20 grass species have been recorded, with red fescue and Yorkshire fog being the most common. 55 other plant species include the nationally scarce sulphur clover.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Stowmarket
Area: 2.7 hectares (6.7 acres)

Little Blakenham Pit

A 127-meter (417-foot) tunnel from one of these chalk pits is used by hibernating bats, making it one of the largest underground roosts in Britain. About 450 bats use the tunnel, mainly Daubenton's. Bats also share a lime kiln with a badger sett. The site also has chalk grassland.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Ipswich
Area: 3.4 hectares (8.4 acres)

Little Heath, Barnham

Grazing by rabbits and sheep helps keep parts of this site as open grassland, but some areas have been taken over by naturally growing woodland. The diverse plants in sheep-grazed areas include field woodrush, hare’s foot clover, and harebell. Stone-curlews nest on short, open grass.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Thetford
Area: 46.2 hectares (114.2 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SPA

London Road Industrial Estate, Brandon

This very small meadow in the middle of an industrial estate is an SSSI because it has the largest known wild population in Britain of the nationally rare sunflower Artemisia campestris. It's thought to have survived because the soil is disturbed from time to time.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Brandon
Area: 0.1 hectares (0.2 acres)

Lordswell Field

This area of calcareous (chalky) Breckland heath has a rich variety of plants, including two nationally rare ones: spanish catchfly and perennial knawel. The latter is protected under Section 13 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. There is also an area of lichen heath.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Brandon
Area: 3.2 hectares (7.9 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR

Maidscross Hill

This very dry grassland has four nationally rare plants: Breckland wild thyme, Spanish catchfly, grape hyacinth, and sickle medick. The site is not grazed, which has allowed bracken and scrub to grow, but it has also increased nesting sites for birds.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Brandon
Area: 44.8 hectares (110.7 acres)
Other Classifications: LNR, NCR

Major Farm Meadow

This is one of the few remaining untouched hay meadows in Suffolk. It's damp grassland on boulder clay, with diverse plants and many molehills. Flowering plants include cowslip, twayblade, and green-winged orchid. There's also a mature, rare black poplar tree.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Eye
Area: 1.8 hectares (4.4 acres)

Metfield Meadow

This meadow on an old airfield is untouched grassland with a rich variety of plants on chalky boulder clay. There are many green-winged orchids, cowslips, and pepper saxifrages. The meadow is grazed by cattle or cut for hay to keep the wild flowers diverse.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Halesworth
Area: 1.3 hectares (3.2 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Mickfield Meadow

Fertilizers and herbicides have never been used on this meadow, so it has a rich variety of plants, including the rare fritillary. The most common grasses are meadow foxtail, cocksfoot, false oat-grass, timothy, and Yorkshire fog.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Stowmarket
Area: 1.9 hectares (4.7 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Middle Wood, Offton

This is a medieval woodland managed as coppice with standards on wet boulder clay. It has very diverse ground plants, including species typical of ancient woodland. Oak is the main tall tree, and there are orchids like common twayblade, early purple orchid, and butterfly orchid.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Ipswich
Area: 23.3 hectares (57.6 acres)

Milden Thicks

These are diverse, mature woods that Natural England describes as nationally important for comparisons that can be made between them. There are several wild service trees, and the ground plants are rich and typical of ancient woodland.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Ipswich
Area: 42.3 hectares (104.5 acres)

Minsmere–Walberswick Heaths and Marshes

Natural England describes this as a site of amazing scientific interest, with areas of mudflats, shingle beach, reedbeds, heathland, and grazing marsh. The marshes have many types of insects, including rare ones. The heathland is a home for two birds that are decreasing in numbers nationally: nightjars and woodlarks.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Saxmundham
Area: 2,327.0 hectares (5,750.2 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, NNR, Ramsar, RSPB, SAC, SCHAONB, SPA, SWT

Moat Farm Meadows

These calcareous (chalky) meadows are traditionally cut for hay. They have diverse plants, with many green-winged orchids and one of the largest groups of meadow saffron in Suffolk. Other species include ox-eye daisy and cuckoo flower.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Ipswich
Area: 3.3 hectares (8.2 acres)

Monewden Meadows

This site has rich plants, and Natural England describes it as probably the best example in Suffolk of untouched chalky clay and neutral grassland. The herb species are especially diverse, including meadow saffron and green-winged orchid, and there are old fruit trees.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 3.7 hectares (9.1 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SWT

Nacton Meadows

This site has fen meadow and grasslands. Wetter areas have more diverse plants, including Yorkshire-fog, crested dog's tail, sharp-flowered rush, greater bird's-foot-trefoil, and the uncommon marsh arrowgrass.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Ipswich
Area: 4.5 hectares (11.1 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB

Neutral Farm Pit, Butley

Natural England describes this as a classic site for studying the Early Pleistocene in East Anglia. It was used by a 19th-century geologist, Frederick W. Harmer, to define his Butley division of the Red Crag Formation. It has many fossils of marine molluscs (like shells).

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 1.1 hectares (2.7 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Newbourne Springs

Most of this site is a narrow valley with a fast-flowing stream, alder carr (wet woodland), and fen. Drier, more acidic soils have grassland, woodland, scrub, and bracken heath. The site is actively managed, which creates diverse plants and many breeding and migratory birds like treecreepers, nuthatches, and sedge warblers.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 15.7 hectares (38.8 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Newmarket Heath

Most of this site is chalk grassland, and it has areas of chalk heath, which is a rare habitat in Britain. There's a rich variety of flowering plants, including a nationally rare species listed in the British Red Data Book of threatened species and five nationally uncommon ones. The main grasses are upright brome and sheep's fescue.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Newmarket
Area: 279.3 hectares (690.2 acres)

Norton Wood

This ancient woodland, managed as coppice with standards, is on sand and loess (wind-blown silt) over boulder clay. There are many pedunculate oak, hazel, ash, and birch trees. The ground plants include a number of uncommon plants such as oxlip.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 24.8 hectares (61.3 acres)

Orwell Estuary

Natural England describes the estuary as nationally important for its breeding avocets, its other breeding and wintering birds, its vascular plants (plants with tubes for water), and its intertidal mud habitats (mud exposed at low tide). It also has a rich and diverse group of insects and a nationally important community of algae.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Ipswich
Area: 1,335.5 hectares (3,300.0 acres)
Other Classifications: Ramsar, SCHAONB, SPA, SWT

Over and Lawn Woods

These are ancient woodlands managed as coppice with standards on chalky boulder clay. The main trees are pedunculate oak and ash. The animals and plants are diverse, including the nationally restricted oxlip. A stream and pond add to the site's ecological interest.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Haverhill
Area: 45.3 hectares (111.9 acres)

Pakefield to Easton Bavents

Natural England describes this site as nationally important for its exposures of the Lower Pleistocene Norwich Crag Formation, its vegetated shingle features, salty lagoons, flood-plain fens, its nationally scarce vascular plants, and its rare breeding birds and wintering bitterns.

Interest: Biological, Geological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Beccles
Area: 735.4 hectares (1,817.2 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, NNR, SCHAONB, SAC, SPA

Pakenham Meadows

This untouched and poorly drained meadow has various soil types, from loam to peat, and the plant types are equally diverse. The herb-rich grassland has yellow rattle, bugle, fen bedstraw, oxe-eye daisy, ragged robin, and southern marsh orchid.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 5.8 hectares (14.3 acres)

Pashford Poor's Fen, Lakenheath

This diverse site has species-rich meadows, hollows with fen and marshes, birch woodland, scrub, and reedbeds. The insect life is diverse and includes the last known British site for a beetle listed in the Red Data Book of Threatened Species.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Lakenheath
Area: 12.4 hectares (30.6 acres)

Potton Hall Fields, Westleton

This site has two gently sloping fields on sandy, well-drained soil. It's an SSSI because it has a population of several thousand plants of the nationally rare red-tipped cudweed in large patches. This plant is only found in two other counties in Britain.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Saxmundham
Area: 16.7 hectares (41.3 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB

RAF Lakenheath

This grassland site on well-drained sandy soils has more rare plants than any other site in Suffolk, including perennial knawel, Breckland thyme, wild grape hyacinth, sand catchfly, drooping brome, and smooth rupturewort. There are also 22 nationally rare and 47 nationally scarce insects.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Brandon
Area: 111.0 hectares (274.3 acres)
Other Classifications: SAC

Ramsholt Cliff

This site is historically very important because it was used to define the Pliocene Coralline Crag Formation as a new geological division by the 19th-century geologist, Edward Charlesworth. The well-preserved fossils include several unusual species.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 2.1 hectares (5.2 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Red House Farm Pit

This pit shows a 3.5-meter (11.5-foot) section of the sandwave facies of the Pliocene Coralline Crag Formation. It has many bryozoan fossils.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 0.5 hectares (1.2 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Red Lodge Heath

Habitats on this site include chalk grassland, dry acid grassland, lichen heath, wet woodland, and ponds. It has nationally important groups of rare plants and insects, including a nationally important population of the five-banded tailed digger wasp. It has several other insect species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and plants include the nationally rare smooth rupturewort.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 20.8 hectares (51.4 acres)

Redgrave and Lopham Fens

This spring-fed valley at the start of the River Waveney has several different types of fen plants. There are water plants like bladderwort, fen pondweed, and Charophytes, all of which show low levels of pollution. The site has the only known British population of fen raft spiders.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Diss
Area: 127.0 hectares (313.8 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, NNR, Ramsar, SAC, SWT

Rex Graham Reserve

This old chalk pit has the largest population of the nationally rare military orchid, and one of only two known in Britain. It also has many bushes of the uncommon mezereon.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 2.8 hectares (6.9 acres)
Other Classifications: SAC, SPA

Richmond Farm Pit, Gedgrave

This pit shows the Coralline Crag Formation from the Pliocene period. Natural England describes it as especially notable for its excellent exposure of the sandwave facies of the Coralline Crag. However, it has very few fossils, as they have been moved elsewhere by waves.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 0.6 hectares (1.5 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Riverside House Meadow

This untouched grassland is traditionally managed by cutting hay in the summer. It has diverse grasses and herbs. The number of such meadows has greatly decreased due to changes in farming. Eleven grass species and 52 other plants have been recorded here.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres)

Rockhall Wood Pit, Sutton

This site has excellent exposures of the Pliocene Coralline Crag Formation, with a vertical sequence of diagenetic (changes after formation) changes and rich fossil animals. Natural England describes it as probably the most important Pliocene site in Britain.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 5.3 hectares (13.1 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Round Hill Pit, Aldeburgh

This site has a 2.5-meter (8.2-foot) exposure of rocks from the Coralline Crag Formation of the early Pliocene, about 5 million years ago. It has many horizontal burrows and is unusual because it has fossils in aragonite, a mineral that rarely survives because it dissolves in water.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Aldeburgh
Area: 0.5 hectares (1.2 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Sandlings Forest

These commercial coniferous (cone-bearing tree) plantations are an SSSI because of their internationally important bird populations. Surveys in the 1990s found 81 singing nightjars (about 2% of the British population) and 71 woodlarks (about 5% of the British population).

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 2,483.8 hectares (6,137.6 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB, SPA

Sandy Lane Pit, Barham

This site has layers of earth that span the period from the Beestonian Stage, which ended about 866,000 years ago, through to the severe ice age of the Anglian Stage, which started about 478,000 years ago. It has Beestonian deposits thought to have been laid down by the proto-Thames (an ancient river), and a paleosol (an old land surface) dating to the Anglian.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Ipswich
Area: 11.1 hectares (27.4 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Sinks Valley, Kesgrave

This site has diverse semi-natural habitats, with alder and oak woodland, a brook with swampy edges, wet and dry grassland, spring-fed fen, and heath. Areas grazed by rabbits have very short grass rich in lichens, mosses, and herbs. The nationally uncommon mossy stonecrop grows on paths.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Ipswich
Area: 24.9 hectares (61.5 acres)

Sizewell Marshes

These untouched wet meadows are important for their amazing groups of insects, with many nationally rare and scarce species. They are also nationally significant for their breeding birds typical of wet grassland. The water animals are diverse, including the nationally scarce soft hornwort and fen pondweed.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Leiston
Area: 105.4 hectares (260.5 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB, SWT

Snape Warren

This site on sandy soils is an example of the lowland heath of eastern England, which has greatly decreased since the 1940s. The heath, mostly covered by ling (heather), is mixed with areas of acid grassland, where the most common grasses are common bent and sheep's fescue.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Saxmundham
Area: 48.0 hectares (118.6 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB, SPA

Sotterley Park

This park was designed in the 18th century, but it dates back to at least the early medieval period and may still have areas of original forest. It has many large and ancient trees, which have the richest epiphytic (growing on other plants) lichen flora in East Anglia, with 92 recorded species. There are also 14 types of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts).

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Footpaths only
Location: Beccles
Area: 123.2 hectares (304.4 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR

Sprat's Water and Marshes, Carlton Colville

The site has open water, mixed fen, alder carr (wet woodland), and wet grazing marsh on thick peat. The diverse plants include a number of uncommon species, and the site is also important for breeding birds.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Lowestoft
Area: 57.1 hectares (141.1 acres)
Other Classifications: Ramsar, SAC, SPA, SWT

Stallode Wash, Lakenheath

This site has grassland, fen, and reedswamp, which are seasonally flooded by the River Little Ouse. There are also smaller areas of permanent open water. It has two nationally rare plants: water germander and marsh pea.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Footpaths only
Location: Brandon
Area: 34.1 hectares (84.3 acres)

Stanton Woods

This site has several ancient woodlands managed as coppice with standards. Some are on boulder clay, and others are on drier, acidic soil. There are also mown paths (rides), small clearings, and a long, wooded gorge called The Grundle.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 66.1 hectares (163.3 acres)

Staverton Park and The Thicks, Wantisden

This ancient park is woodland on sandy soil, with mature pollarded (cut back to the trunk to encourage new growth) oaks. The Thicks is a dense wood with hollies, some of which are thought to be the largest in Britain. There's a rich lichen flora, and insects include rare species.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Footpaths only
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 80.3 hectares (198.4 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SCHAONB, SAC

Stoke Tunnel Cutting, Ipswich

This fossil-rich site dates to the late Marine Isotope Stage 7, about 190,000 years ago. It's part of a high terrace of the River Orwell and has fossils of European pond tortoises, lions, mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, horses, and voles.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Ipswich
Area: 2.2 hectares (5.4 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Stour Estuary

The estuary is nationally important for thirteen types of wildfowl that spend the winter here and three that pass through in autumn. It's also important for coastal saltmarsh, sheltered muddy shores, two rare marine invertebrates, rare plant groups, and three geological sites.

Interest: Biological, Geological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Wrabness
Area: 2,248.0 hectares (5,554.9 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, NCR, Ramsar, RSPB, SCHAONB, SPA

Sudbourne Park Pit

Natural England describes this as an important site for studying the animals of the Coralline Crag Formation, dating to the early Pliocene, about 5 million years ago. The fossils are plentiful and diverse, especially bivalves (like clams) and molluscs (like snails).

Interest: Geological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 1.1 hectares (2.7 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Sutton and Hollesley Heaths

These are parts of the once-large sandy heaths of the Suffolk coast. They have dry grass and heather heathland, along with areas of bracken, scrub, and pine and birch woodland. Breeding birds include long-eared owls, and hen harriers roost here in the winter.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 483.3 hectares (1,194.2 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB, SPA, SWT

Thetford Heaths

A large part of this dry heathland site is calacareous (chalky) grassland, and some areas are grazed by sheep or rabbits. There are several nationally rare plants, an uncommon heathland bird, and many lichens and mosses.

Interest: Biological, Geological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Thetford
Area: 270.6 hectares (668.7 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, NCR, NNR, SAC, SPA

Thorpe Morieux Woods

These ancient semi-natural woods are managed by coppicing. The soil is poorly drained boulder clay, and common trees include pedunculate oak. Bramble and dog's mercury are common on the ground, with large areas of oxlip in some places.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 45.2 hectares (111.7 acres)
Other Classifications: SWT

Titsal Wood, Shadingfield

This ancient woodland, managed as coppice with standards, is mainly hornbeam, but it also has young oak and ash trees. The ground plants are rich and ancient, including common spotted orchid, wood bitter-cress, and the rare thin-spiked wood sedge.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Beccles
Area: 14.7 hectares (36.3 acres)

Trundley and Wadgell's Wood, Great Thurlow

These semi-natural woods on boulder clay soils are mostly ancient coppice with standards, with pedunculate oak as the main tall trees. They have ground plants typical of ancient woodland such as early purple orchid, yellow archangel, and sanicle. There are wide grassy paths (rides) that are mostly covered by Yorkshire fog.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Haverhill
Area: 79.4 hectares (196.2 acres)

Tunstall Common

Most of this dry lowland heath is covered by heather, with diverse lichens and mosses. There are also areas of acid grassland, which are being taken over by gorse and bracken. Pine scrub is growing in from nearby plantations.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 36.6 hectares (90.4 acres)
Other Classifications: SCHAONB, SPA

Valley Farm Pit, Sudbourne

A shelly, fossil-rich Pleistocene layer lies unconformably (meaning it's on top of an older, eroded surface) above a Pliocene Coralline Crag Formation layer. Natural England describes it as important for both sedimentological studies (how sediments form) and for understanding the local relationship between the Pliocene and the Pleistocene periods.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 0.5 hectares (1.2 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR, SCHAONB

Waldringfield Pit

This site shows a sequence of Pleistocene deposits, including the Waldringfield Gravels. These are the lowest part of the Kesgrave Sands and Gravels, which were deposits on the bed of the River Thames before it was diverted south by the Anglian Glaciation about 450,000 years ago. Waldringfield Pit is the "type site" for the Waldringfield Gravels.

Interest: Geological
Public Access: No
Location: Woodbridge
Area: 0.8 hectares (2.0 acres)
Other Classifications: GCR

Wangford Warren and Carr

Natural England says this site has the best-preserved system of active sand dunes in Breckland, along with typical Breckland plants and the rare grey hair-grass. There are also areas of lichen heath and dry grassland.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Part of site
Location: Brandon
Area: 67.8 hectares (167.5 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SAC, SPA, SWT

Weather and Horn Heaths, Eriswell

There are areas of acidic grassland and heather, along with large parts dominated by mosses and lichens. Grazing by rabbits and livestock has kept the plants short and the habitat open.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Brandon
Area: 133.3 hectares (329.4 acres)
Other Classifications: NCR, SAC, SPA

West Stow Heath

This site has diverse habitats with grassland, heath, wet woodland, scrub, dry woodland, and old gravel pits that are now open water. The grassland has three nationally rare plants: glaucous fescue, Breckland wild thyme, and spring speedwell.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Area: 44.3 hectares (109.5 acres)
Other Classifications: SPA

Westhall Wood and Meadow

The wood is ancient coppice with standards with mainly pedunculate oak and hornbeams dominating the coppice layer. The untouched meadow is poorly drained and rich in species, with grasses including red fescue and Yorkshire fog.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Diss
Area: 43.1 hectares (106.5 acres)

Weston Fen

This spring-fed valley fen has a high and stable water level, which means it has a rich and varied plant life. The main plants in the central fen area are saw sedge, the reed Phragmites australis, and blunt-flowered rush. Other habitats include tall fen grassland, heath, and a stream. There are many dragonflies and damselflies here.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Diss
Area: 49.7 hectares (122.8 acres)
Other Classifications: SAC, SWT

Wilde Street Meadow

This site has a long history of traditional management, with light summer grazing. It has areas of species-rich calcareous (chalky) grassland, damp pasture, scrub, and dykes. There is a large population of green-winged orchids.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: No
Location: Lakenheath
Area: 11.6 hectares (28.7 acres)

Wortham Ling

This site has acid grassland and dry heath on sandy soil. Some areas are heavily grazed by rabbits, creating very short grass that is a good home for lichens and mosses. Butterflies include many graylings.

Interest: Biological
Public Access: Yes
Location: Diss
Area: 53.2 hectares (131.5 acres)

Images for kids

Abbey Wood, Flixton
Alde-Ore Estuary
Aldeburgh Brick Pit
Aldeburgh Hall Pit
Arger Fen
Bangrove Wood
Barking Woods
Barnby Broad and Marshes
Barnham Heath
Bawdsey Cliff
Berner's Heath
Bixley Heath
Black Ditches, Cavenham
Blaxhall Heath
Thelnetham Fen
Bobbitshole
Bradfield Woods
Breckland Farmland
Breckland Forest
Brent Eleigh Woods
Buckanay Farm Pit
Bugg's Hole Fen
Burgate Wood
Cavendish Woods
Cavenham – Icklingham Heaths
Cherry Hill and The Gallops
Chillesford Church Pit
Chippenhall Green
Combs Wood
Cornard Mere
Corton Cliffs
Crag Farm Pit
Crag Pit, Aldeburgh
Crag Pit, Sutton
Cransford Meadow
Creeting St Mary Pits
Deadman's Grave, Icklingham
Deben Estuary
Dew's Ponds
Edwardstone Woods
Elmsett Park Wood
Eriswell Low Warren
Fakenham Wood
Ferry Cliff
Flixton Quarry
Fox Fritillary Meadow
Foxhole Heath
Cutler's Wood
Frithy Wood
The Gardens, Great Ashfield
Gedgrave Hall Pit
Gipping Great Wood
Glemsford Pits
The Glen Chalk Caves
Gosbeck Wood
Great Blakenham Pit
Gromford Meadow
Groton Wood
Gypsy Camp Meadows
Hascot Hill Pit
Hay Wood, Whepstead
High House Meadows
Hintlesham Woods
Holton Pit
Hopton Fen
Horringer Court Caves
How Hill Track
Hoxne Brick Pit
Iken Wood
Ipswich Heaths
Kentwell Woods
Knettishall Heath
Lackford Lakes
Lakenheath Poor's Fen
Lakenheath Warren
Landguard Common
Laurel Farm Meadow
Leiston – Aldeburgh
Lineage Wood & Railway Track, Long Melford
Lingwood Meadows
Little Blakenham Pit
Little Heath, Barnham
London Road Industrial Estate SSSI
Lordswell Field
Maidscross Hill
Major Farm Meadow
Metfield Meadow
Mickfield Meadow
Middle Wood, Offton
Milden Thicks
Minsmere-Walberswick Heaths and Marshes
Moat Farm Meadows
Monewden Meadows
Nacton Meadows
Neutral Farm Pit
Newbourne Springs
Newmarket Heath
Norton Wood
Orwell Estuary
Over and Lawn Woods
Pakefield to Easton Bavents
Pakenham Meadows
Pashford Poor's Fen
Potton Hall Fields
RAF Lakenheath
Ramsholt Cliff
Red House Farm Pit
Red Lodge Heath
Redgrave and Lopham Fens
Rex Graham Reserve
Richmond Farm Pit
Riverside House Meadow
Rockhall Wood Pit
Round Hill Pit
Sandlings Forest
Sandy Lane Pit, Barham
Sinks Valley
Sizewell Marshes
Snape Warren
Sotterley Park
Sprat's Water and Marshes
Stallode Wash, Lakenheath
Stanton Woods
Staverton Park and The Thicks
Stoke Tunnel Cutting, Ipswich
Stour Estuary
Sudbourne Park Pit
Sutton and Hollesley Heaths
Thetford Heath
Thorpe Morieux Woods
Titsal Wood, Shadingfield
Trundley Wood
Tunstall Common
Valley Farm Pit
Waldringfield Pit
Wangford Warren and Carr
Weather and Horn Heaths
West Stow Heath
Westhall Wood
Weston Fen
Wilde Street Meadow
Wortham Ling

Sources

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List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Suffolk Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.