Devil's Punch Bowl home named national nature reserve

A SURREY landscape which is home to lizards and an area known as the Devil's Punch Bowl has been designated a national nature reserve.

- By REBECCA SPEARE-COLE

Natural England, which advises the Government on the environment, announced the creation of the Wealden Heaths National Nature Reserve on Friday.

This means the 2,766-hectare landscape has been marked out as an area of focus for conservation and nature restoration efforts.

The landscape boasts a rich mix of habitats, including acidic grassland, regenerating woodland and heath - making it a haven for rare species such as sand lizards, night-jars, adders and natterjack toads.

The reserve is also home to the Devil's Punch Bowl - a natural amphitheatre in the heathlands near Hindhead, which is said to have been formed when the Devil scooped up earth to throw at Thor.

It inspired literary figures such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Alfred Lord Tennyson, who wrote Flower In The Crannied Wall in Waggoners Well.