Hickling Broad
Encyclopedia
Hickling Broad lies within The Broads National Park in Norfolk, England,. 4 km south-east of Stalham
.
It is a National Nature Reserve
established by English Nature
and in the care of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust
, who run boat trips around the reserve for visitors. It is also part of the Upper Thurne Broads and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest
. In the 1990s, over £650,000 was spent on restoring the reserve, and invasive plants are kept under control by grazing hardy breeds of cattle, sheep and ponies from Eastern Europe. Water levels are managed, and the reed and sedge beds are regularly mown to encourage wildlife.
It is the broad with the largest surface area, and the water is slightly brackish, due to its proximity to the sea. The navigation channel is only 1.5 m deep, with much of the broad being shallower; it has 5.9 km² of open water, making it one of the largest expanses of open water in East Anglia
.
It has the largest reed-bed in England and supports rare waterweeds such as the holly-leaved naiad and three rare species of stonewort. Amongst the rare insects is the Swallowtail Butterfly
which feeds on milk-parsley, the Norfolk hawker
Aeshna isosceles and emperor dragonfly
. Birds that visit the resserve during the winter include cranes, goldeneyes
, shovelers and teals, while bittern
s, marsh harriers, pochards, water rails
and Cetti’s warblers
stay for most of the year. There is a waymarked
walk around the broad.
Stalham
Stalham is a market town on the River Ant in the English county of Norfolk, in East Anglia. It covers an area of and had a population of 2,951 in 1,333 households as of the 2001 census. It lies within the Norfolk Broads, about north-east of Norwich on the A149 road.For the purposes of local...
.
It is a National Nature Reserve
National Nature Reserve
For details of National nature reserves in the United Kingdom see:*National Nature Reserves in England*National Nature Reserves in Northern Ireland*National Nature Reserves in Scotland*National Nature Reserves in Wales...
established 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...
and in the care of the 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....
, who run boat trips around the reserve for visitors. It is also part of the Upper Thurne Broads and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
. In the 1990s, over £650,000 was spent on restoring the reserve, and invasive plants are kept under control by grazing hardy breeds of cattle, sheep and ponies from Eastern Europe. Water levels are managed, and the reed and sedge beds are regularly mown to encourage wildlife.
It is the broad with the largest surface area, and the water is slightly brackish, due to its proximity to the sea. The navigation channel is only 1.5 m deep, with much of the broad being shallower; it has 5.9 km² of open water, making it one of the largest expanses of open water in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
.
It has the largest reed-bed in England and supports rare waterweeds such as the holly-leaved naiad and three rare species of stonewort. Amongst the rare insects is the Swallowtail Butterfly
Old World Swallowtail
The Old World Swallowtail is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. The butterfly is also known as the Common Yellow Swallowtail or simply the Swallowtail...
which feeds on milk-parsley, the Norfolk hawker
Norfolk Hawker
Aeshna isoceles is a small hawker dragonfly that is found in Europe, mostly around the Mediterranean, and the lowlands of North Africa. Its common name in English is Green-eyed Hawker. In Britain it is a rare and local species and is known as the Norfolk Hawker...
Aeshna isosceles and emperor dragonfly
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...
. Birds that visit the resserve during the winter include cranes, goldeneyes
Goldeneye (duck)
Goldeneye are small tree-hole nesting northern hemisphere seaducks belonging to the genus Bucephala. Their plumage is black and white, and they eat fish, crustaceans and other marine life....
, shovelers and teals, while bittern
Bittern
Bitterns are a classification of birds in the heron family, Ardeidae, a family of wading birds. Species named bitterns tend to be the shorter-necked, often more secretive members of this family...
s, marsh harriers, pochards, water rails
Water Rail
The Water Rail is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the warmer parts of its breeding range...
and Cetti’s warblers
Cetti's Warbler
Cetti's Warbler , Cettia cetti, is an Old World warbler which breeds in Europe, northwest Africa and east southern temperate Asia as far as Afghanistan and NW Pakistan. It is the only bush warbler to occur outside Asia...
stay for most of the year. There is a waymarked
Waymarking
Waymarking is an activity where people locate and log interesting locations around the world, usually with a GPS receiver and a digital camera. Waymarking differs from geocaching in that there is no physical container to locate at the given coordinates. Waymarking identifies points of interest for...
walk around the broad.