The North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest in Norfolk, England, is a Special Protection Area for birds and other wildlife, included in the European Union's Natura 2000 network of protected sites. Its habitats include reed beds, salt marshes, freshwater lagoons, and sand or shingle beaches, across 7,700 ha (19,027 acres) of the county's north coast. The wetlands are important for scarce breeding birds such as pied avocets. The location also attracts rare migrating birds, and ducks and geese winter along this coast in considerable numbers. The area is archaeologically significant, with sites including the mound of an Iron Age fort, a Roman naval port near Brancaster, medieval ruins, and remnants of military use from both world wars. The area attracts many tourists for birdwatching and other outdoor activities. The threat of the sea's encroachment on this soft coast is being met by managed retreat and the creation of new reserves inland. The site is designated as a wetland of international importance, and most of it is a Biosphere Reserve. Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Norfolk_Coast_Site_of_Special_Scientific_Interest> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1561: The Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, one of the most cherished tales in Japanese military history, the epitome of Japanese chivalry and romance, took place in Shinano Province. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Kawanakajima> 1897: A peaceful labor demonstration made up of mostly Polish and Slovak anthracite coal miners in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, US, was fired upon by a sheriff's posse in the Lattimer massacre. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattimer_massacre> 1946: While riding a train to Darjeeling, Sister Teresa Bojaxhiu, later Mother Teresa, experienced what she later described as "the call within the call", directing her "to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them". <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa> 1990: Pope John Paul II consecrated the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, one of the largest churches in the world. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Our_Lady_of_Peace> 2008: CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and highest- energy particle accelerator, was first powered up beneath the Franco- Swiss border near Geneva. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: chronophagous: (rare) Time-consuming. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chronophagous> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:   For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.   --Franz Werfel <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franz_Werfel>