England’s second ‘super’ National Nature Reserve (NNR) has been declared in Somerset by Natural England on the 70th anniversary of the creation of national nature reserves.

The Somerset Wetlands NNR has absorbed the six reserves on the Somerset Levels and Moors and added 56% more land to the area occupied by the original site.

Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England, said: “The creation of this very large National Nature Reserve is an important moment for nature recovery in England.

“This is not least because it presents a practical demonstration of what can be done by working in partnership across the landscape at scale to reverse nature’s decline. Natural England intends to encourage other projects with similar ambition.”

It will be managed by Natural England, Environment Agency, National Trust, RSPB, Somerset Wildlife Trust and new partners The Hawk and Owl Trust and Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

Becoming England’s third largest NNR, the Somerset Wetlands is 6,140ha and adds landmarks like Burrow Mump, Catcott Lows and Steart Marshes to the list of locations.

Georgia Stokes, CEO of Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT), said: “The Somerset Wetlands NNR represents a shift in approach and a scaling up of ambition and action in a low-lying county that’s hugely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Highlights of the wetlands have been listed as:

• A third of the UK’s bittern population, a large marsh bird of the heron family; avocets, black-and-white waders which bred in Somerset in 2012 for the first time in more than 150 years and new colonisers like the great white egret, which bred for the first time in Somerset and the UK ten years ago.
• 19 species of dragonflies including a ‘Merited Site of National Importance’ by the British Dragonfly Society.
• Round-leaved sundew – a carnivorous plant whose original habitat was the peatlands before drainage and farming.

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