Bure Marshes National Nature Reserve (NNR) is maintained by English Nature

English Nature

English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006...

 in Norfolk, England, within The Broads National Park.

It is mostly fen

Fen

A fen is a type of wetland fed by mineral-rich surface water or groundwater. Fens are characterised by their water chemistry, which is neutral or alkaline, with relatively high dissolved mineral levels but few other plant nutrients...

 land and includes four Broads which are disused peat workings dug between 900 and 1350:

• Hoveton Great Broad
  Hoveton Great Broad
  Hoveton Great Broad lies within The Broads in Norfolk, England, between Wroxham Broad and Salhouse Broad.The broad is connected to the River Bure, but not open to boat traffic. A nature trail was laid out in 1968 - the first in the region. It is accessible only by boat...
  
   managed by Natural England
• Decoy Broad managed by Natural England
• Ranworth Broad
  Ranworth Broad
  Ranworth Broad lies in The Broads. It is one of the nature reserves in the care of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.Ranworth Broad has a floating visitor centre, a boardwalk and a bird observation hide....
  
   owned/managed by Norfolk Wildlife Trust
  Norfolk Wildlife Trust
  The Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Norfolk, England, formerly known as the Norfolk Naturalists' Trust, is one of almost 50 wildlife trusts throughout the United Kingdom.Founded in 1926, it is the oldest of all the trusts....
  
  
• Cockshoot Broad
  Cockshoot Broad
  Cockshoot Broad, one of the Norfolk Broads, lies on the River Bure within The Broads National Park in Norfolk, England. It is one of several Broads where boats are not allowed at any time of the year, although they can moor at its entrance. It is a nature reserve in the care of Norfolk Wildlife Trust...
  
   owned/managed by Norfolk Wildlife Trust

For more information please visit the Natural England website www.naturalengland.org.uk
This area of unreclaimed marshland supports many plants and animals, including rarities such as the crested buckler fern, rare moths and spiders, and some of Britain's rarest aquatic insects

Aquatic insects

Aquatic insects live some portion of their life cycle in the water. They feed in the same ways as other insects. Some diving insects, such as predatory diving beetles, can hunt for food underwater where land-living insects cannot compete.-Breathing:...

.

In open fens, reed

Phragmites

Phragmites, the Common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Phragmites australis is sometimes regarded as the sole species of the genus Phragmites, though some botanists divide Phragmites australis into three or four species...

, sedge

Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...

 and marsh hay are still harvested, mainly for the thatching

Thatching

Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...

industry.