Author: Adam Yardley

This is the dramatic moment a Great Crested Grebe entered a vicious fight with a rival male to protect its young on Salhouse Broad.

One of our skippers Oli who saw the unusual behaviour unfold on one of his boat trips, along with surprised passengers and fellow skipper Richard, explained: “A male Great Crested Grebe began to attack a female Grebe and her young. The father of the young had to move fast to protect them and entered into a really serious fight which involved several bouts of ‘face offs’ and attacks. Both Richard and I grabbed our cameras. Richard got an excellent video of the behaviour and I managed to take some still photos (as shown below).

“Over the next few days the other skippers and I witnessed several more fights between the Grebes and sadly one of the ‘Greblets’ was lost in this activity. The good news is that the aggressive male has now backed off and the remaining ‘Greblet’ is doing well.

“This is really unusual behaviour and no-one I have spoken to has ever seen this kind of thing before. We always think of Grebes as peaceful, elegant birds and this has put a whole new light on how we view them! Our best guess for the reason for the fights is that they were based on territory or breeding rights, but we would love to hear from anyone who could offer a better explanation.”

You can view the fight between the two males on this video:-

In more positive news the single ‘Greblet’ at the bottom end of Salhouse Broad is becoming increasingly independent. Earlier in the month we reported that the Greblet was diving and catching fish for itself and it is now venturing further than ever before as it has been spotted fishing a good half mile down river of Salhoue Broad near Woodbastwick Hall.

Our trip boat – The Cordon Rouge – seems to be a real hit with wildlife. Last month we reported that Swallows were feeding their young on top of the boat and now we have had another magical moment aboard this lovely vessel. A huge Brown Hawker dragonfly settling on the Cordon Rouge’s railings as shown on this magnificent picture taken by skipper, Tobi!

We are seeing a lot of dragonflys and damselflies on the river lately due to the hot, sunny weather and this close encounter was the cherry on the cake.

On the subject of Swallows, large numbers of these agile birds are feeding vigorously on Wroxham Broad, in order to build up their calories before embarking on their epic journey back to Africa. We see particularly large numbers on cloudy days, when there are more insects to catch on the water.

We are also seeing more Cormorants than usual on Wroxham Island and Salhoue Broad. These protected sea birds, which have come inland to feed on the Broad’s plentiful fish supply, are being regularly spotted drying their wings on treetops after fishing.

Cormorants exhibit this behavior because unlike ducks, for example, they do not have oil glands to waterproof their feathers and so have to dry them out after fishing. It is thought that Cormorants lack oil glands in order to avoid catching air between their feathers, which would prevent them from diving as deeply or quickly through the water when at sea.

The Broads most majestic bird of prey, the Marsh Harrier, has been spotted around Decoy Staithe in the parish of Woodbastick by our skipper James recently. The largest of the harriers, it can be recognised by its long tail and light flight with wings held in a shallow ‘V’. The bird has made a remarkable comeback after being mercilessly persecuted for many years – but aside from being a magnificent sight – it is always reassuring to see as the raptor as its conservation status remains on the Amber watch list.

Finally Skipper Richard and crew Krissy and their passengers had a lovely view of an otter swimming across the entrance to Wroxham Broad a few days ago. It was a really special moment for Krissy as it was her first otter sighting in the area!

Written by Oliver Franzen

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Excited passengers enjoyed a great view of a special surprise visitor recently – a grey seal!

The magnificent mammal was first spotted in Horning before working its way up river to Wroxham Broad. One of our trip boat skippers, Oli Franzen, explained: “From a distance I saw what appeared to be a huge otter swimming confidently down the middle of the river towards my trip boat. I explained to my passengers that this was very unusual for otters, which are usually a little shyer, and that the last time I saw this kind of behaviour (on the river Waveney at Beccles) it turned out to be a seal. But at the time the surprise visitor dived under the water before I could get close enough to be sure what it was.

“Later in the day the other skippers and I got a much closer look at the seal, which had swum onto Wroxham Broad and confirmed our suspicions!” Norfolk has a large seal population around its coast – particularly at Horsey and Blakney Point where there are large and fast expanding seal colonies – but for one to show up in Wroxham Broad is remarkable as it would have had to have swum 25 miles up the river Bure from Great Yarmouth. What would have driven the seal to do this remains a mystery and the seal has since vanished without a trace.

This is not the first time a seal has been spotted on the Broads this year. In May a seal hit the headlines a little further downstream on the river Bure after local photographer – Clive Eaton – captured a picture of the maritime mammal catching the usually fearsome Pike.

You can read the full story about this in the Eastern Daily Press by clicking here .

Another lovely surprise has been a new grebe family on Salhouse Broad. Visitors were already captivated by two families of Grebes on Salhouse Broad since the spring but a third pair of these delightful divers have now hatched two much smaller ‘Greblets’.

The whole breeding process of Grebes is a wonderful show. Its starts with a courtship ‘mirror dance’ for the birds to bond before they pair off and build a floating nest to lay their eggs on (as the birds prefer not to come to land). When the little ‘Greblets’ hatch their mums and dads then carry them around on their backs, which must be one of the cutest sights on the Broads.

The other ‘Greblets’ on the Salhouse broad are growing up fast. The single ‘Greblet’ at the bottom end of Salhouse Broad, which was the first to hatch and has been followed closely on the blog, is becoming particularly independent and we have seen it not only diving but catching fish for itself.

The family of Coots, which we featured in previous blogs, are also growing up fast as shown in these pictures.

Our families of swans – made up of three sets of six cygnets in Wroxham and Salhouse Broad plus a single cygnet hatched later in the season on Salhouse Little Broad – are also doing well as shown in these lovely pictures taken by Skipper Tobi:

Another striking image taken by Skipper Oli is this Heron perching on the back of a Traditional River Cruiser sailing yacht during Wroxham Week – apparently it wasn’t deterred by being at one of the busiest sailing regattas held on the Norfolk Broads!

Oli also caught this shot of another fish eater – the Cormorant – perching on Salhouse Broad.

Finally, the bankside vegetation is also a delight to behold with hemp agrimony, greater willow herb and purple loosestrife turning the banks shades of pink and purple

Hemp Agrimony Great Willow Herb

Words Oliver Franzen Pictures: Tobi Radcliffe and Oliver Franzen

If you have taken any wildlife pictures on our trips we would love to share them on this blog. Simply send them to info@broads.co.uk or via Twitter @BroadsTours or Facebook by searching Broads Tours or Instagram norfolk_broads_direct