Broadland

The Broads cover a total surface of 303 sq. km. They contain a total of seven rivers and 63 lakes, the majority of them less than 4 metres in depth. The Broads are based on alluvial deposits of peat, silt and clay laid down by repeated changes in sea level since the last ice age. What we see today are the remains of hand dug pits created during the Middle Ages as local people excavated peat for use as fuel. During the fourteenth century these diggings flooded to form what is now a unique and internationally important network of reedbeds, grazing marsh, fens, wet woodland and open water.

The Broads are part of the Global Nature Fund's Living Lakes scheme. Norfolk Wildlife Trust (along with the Broads Authority) are partners in the project.
 

Typical species

grey heron, southern hawker dragonfly, yellow water lily, common reed, alder

Threatened species

bittern, swallowtail butterfly, Norfolk hawker dragonfly, depressed river mussel, holly leaved naiad, marsh harrier, otter