Scarning Fen (credit: Richard Osbourne)
Small red damselfly (credit: Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION)
Scarning Fen
It may be small but Scarning Fen is home to large number of rare plants and insects. This precious site is sensitive to disturbance, so please tread carefully.
Location
Scarning Fen is just outside East Dereham on its western fringe. Leave the A47 south on Fen Road. Follow this minor road round to the left for 0.5km before parking carefully on the roadside.
NR19 1LN
OS Map Reference
TF 981 121
Know before you go
Dogs
When to visit
Opening times
Dawn till dusk, every day, all year roundBest time to visit
Spring and summerAbout the reserve
Scarning Fen is well known among naturalists for its excellent array of invertebrates. It is home to a wide variety of nationally scarce species, including the small red damselfly. In the UK, this species is only locally common in the south-western counties but very rare elsewhere. Scarning Fen is its only known home in Norfolk, holding a small but vulnerable population. Males are a uniform scarlet, lacking any stripes on their bodies; females are darker. These weak flyers are on the wing from June to the start of September.
You can also find several interesting plants at Scarning Fen, including rare liverworts and mosses.
Species
Habitat
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