Evolution of a Breckland Landscape: Chalkland under a cold climate in the area of Beachamwell, Norfolk
Author: Richard West
Published by Suffolk Naturalists’ Society, Ipswich, 2015
Softback, 55 colour plates, 110pp.
Size 297 × 210 mm (A4)
Price £10.00, plus £2 p&p

This is another masterly piece of work from Richard West describing the processes and sequence of events that combine to make the landscape of chalkland between Swaffham and Shouldham so interesting. The evolution of the local landscape, as well as the origin of the superficial sediments and the study of the patterned ground widely seen as soil or crop patterns is explained. Most of the observations and explanations relate to periods of cold climate during the last few hundred thousand years, including a period when the Fenland was invaded by an ice sheet. The area is an object lesson on the effect of cold climate on a landscape on Chalk. The text is complemented by a series of colour plates showing the landscape including a unique collection of aerial photos clearly showing the variety of patterned ground features.