Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 14, 2015

The Holkham National Nature Reserve is the largest such reserve in England. It is on the Norfolk coast between Burnham Overy Staithe and Blakeney, and is managed by Natural England with the cooperation of the Holkham Estate. Its 3,900 hectares (9,600 acres) include a wide range of habitats, such as grazing marsh, woodland, salt marsh, sand dunes and foreshore. The reserve is part of the North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest, additionally protected through Natura 2000, Special Protection Area and Ramsar listings, and is part of both an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a World Biosphere Reserve. Holkham is important for wintering wildfowl, especially pink-footed geese, Eurasian wigeons and brent geese, but it also has breeding waders, and attracts many migrating birds in autumn. A number of scarce invertebrates and plants can be found in the dunes, and the reserve is one of only two sites in the UK with an antlion colony. The Vikings navigated the creeks to establish Holkham village. The reserve was created in 1967 mostly from the Holkham estate, owned since the 17th century by the Earls of Leicester, and attracts over 100,000 visitors a year, including birdwatchers, horse riders and naturists. (Full article...)