Wildlife
The Broads has a variety of habitats, supporting diverse plants and animals. The main habitats are rivers and broads, fen, carr woodland, drained marshland (grazing marsh) and estuary.
The Broads is renowned for many species of birds. Teal and wigeon spend the winter on the open broads, and you can see birds such as reed and sedge warblers, and the rarer Cetti's warbler in the reedbeds. The magnificent bird of prey, the marsh harrier, has made a comeback and now breeds successfully in the fens. Numbers of bitterns have also increased in recent years following restoration of fen habitat and improvements to water quality.
The fens alone have over 250 plant species, from the nationally protected fen orchid, to the more abundant species such as ragged robin. Invertebrates such as Britains largest butterfly, the swallowtail, and the rare Norfolk hawker dragonfly, can often be seen flying amongst the fens and dykes.
Carr woodland is the penultimate stage in the natural change or succession from open water to dry oak or ash woodland. A largely undisturbed wilderness, carr woodland is a damp, shaded habitat, filled with a tangle of woody species and shade-tolerant plants. Many birds inhabit carr woodland, including willow tits and long-tailed tits, greater and lesser spotted woodpeckers and treecreepers.
Drained marshland or grazing marsh is an important wildlife habitat, rich in plant and bird life. Waders and wildfowl are abundant where water levels are high and the marshes are criss-crossed by dykes, often rich in water plants and invertebrates.
Breydon Water is Britains most easterly estuary. Lying at the junction of the northern and southern broads, it acts as a staging post for migratory birds. Nationally important wintering flocks of wigeon and shelduck, and an internationally important flock of Bewicks swans have been recorded.
