Author: Adam Yardley

Eagle-eyed passengers are enjoying spotting our birdlife, including all three of the Broads’ common goose species, nesting in some unusual, tucked-away places.  The water birds probably pick these spots to hide from predators.

An Egyptian goose is nesting in the roof of a summerhouse in a riverside garden in Wroxham.

A Canada goose is barely visible nesting in the long undergrowth on Wroxham Island.

The male of the nesting pair is certainly making himself seen however, having stood guard near the top-end entrance to Wroxham Broad for the last couple of weeks.  He has even tried to ‘see off’ our trip boats if we get close to the nest!

Perhaps the hardest nesting bird to spot on the river at the moment is a Greylag goose tucked away under a tree at the bottom end of Salhouse Broad.

The Great Crested Grebe pair that we featured in our last blog building a floating nest on the river in Woodbastwick are doing well.  The male grebe has been very diligent, regularly bringing large lily leaves to add to the nest as shown below, as well as catching fish to feed his partner with.

A little further upstream we managed to get a picture of another grebe catching fish.

Perhaps what has delighted passengers most of all though is the ducks and geese that have already hatched their adorable young.

This lovely picture shows a family of Greylag geese with their beautiful little goslings that are only a few days old near the top end entrance to Wroxham Broad.

A second Greylag family, with equally cute goslings, are spending much of their time on a riverside garden at the bottom end of Wroxham village.

Last but not least, we have two mallard duck families in this area.

Words and images – Oliver Franzen

The Broads are bursting into life with our resident birdlife busily performing their breeding rituals. And signalling the coming of spring, the first Swallows have arrived on Wroxham Broad after their long journey from Africa.

Passengers have been delighted by our first brood of Mallard Ducklings on the River Bure, just downstream from Wroxham Village. Very cute!

A Great Crested Grebe pair are nesting on the river, near Woodbastwick, and are incubating their eggs as shown below.

Another pair of Great Crested Grebes started building a nest a little further upstream on Salhouse Broad, but appear to have abandoned it.  This is not unusual, as Great Crested Grebes quite often have a few attempts at making a nest before sticking with their perfect ‘family home’.

Canada, Greylag and Egyptian geese are also nesting on Wroxham Island and have been fighting over the best spots for the last month or so.

Elsewhere, on Hickling Broad, we have spotted our first brood of lovely little Egyptian Goose goslings being well cared for by their attentive parents. This pair of geese hatched their young on almost exactly the same date last year – as shown in the picture below:

Not to be left out, our swans are in full swing with their mating rituals.  We captured ‘the moment’ with this amorous couple in our boat basin.

We have also enjoyed some lovely sightings of Kingfishers and Marsh Harriers since the last blog.

This picture shows a Kingfisher perched on a branch near Bridge Broad.

This photograph captures the moment a Marsh Harrier swooped low over the marshes on the opposite side of the river to Wroxham Broad.  At the time this picture was taken we were lucky enough to see two Marsh Harriers and two Buzzards all in the same location!

Why not come on a boat trip and see the wildlife for yourself!  Our regular 2017 trip boat timetable started at the beginning of this month and is now running seven days a week.  Click to see the river trip timetable or call 01603 782 207.