Published:
7:24 AM April 12, 2022
Updated:
10:10 AM April 12, 2022
The influential Norfolk conservationist who founded the much-loved nature park at Pensthorpe has died at the age of 90.
Bill Makins was a farmer whose passion for waterfowl and wading birds led to the creation of what is now known as Pensthorpe Natural Park, near Fakenham.
The reserve and its habitats in the Wensum valley were established following a huge excavation which saw over a million tonnes of gravel extracted by the early 1980s.
Realising the site’s nature potential, Mr Makins turned the resulting holes into carefully landscaped lakes, and moved his own growing collection of water birds there.
Farmer and conservationist Bill Makins, who founded the wildlife park at Pensthorpe, has died at the age of 90
– Credit: Archant
With his wife Francesca, he opened the park to the public in 1988 and built it into one of Norfolk’s top visitor attractions, and an important conservation hub for rare wildlife.
Mrs Makins said: “All the lakes, the waterfowl and the wader scrapes…
