Author: Adam Yardley

Now is one of our favourite times of year to be on the Broads, as the National Park dons its winter coat and takes on a whole new persona.  Waterways that were buzzing with boats only a couple of months ago are now transformed into a wonderful winter wilderness.

While there are far fewer human visitors, birds have been flocking to the Broads from northern countries to take advantage of the relatively warmer climate, while shyer resident species like otters and tufted ducks come out into the open to enjoy the tranquil conditions.

Not only have we been treated to some beautiful sunny days and mild weather lately but there has never been a better time to experience the Broads at its autumnal best.  Our Queen of the Broads Trip boat has just had a new heating system fitted so that you can enjoy a mince pie and mulled wine trip in comfort.  Or just wrap up warm and explore on your own with one of our day boats!

Spotting an otter is usually at the top of our passengers bucket list and now is a great time to see them as they are more likely to come out into the open when the river is quiet.  James Greasley managed to capture this magical moment with two otters playing together.

James explained “I was travelling along the river Bure when I noticed two young otters swimming together and playing in the reeds at the entrance to the dyke leading to Ranworth/Malthouse Broad.  It was a magical moment but hard to take a clear picture!”

Perhaps even more excitingly, we haven’t had to go far to see otters as they have been coming right into our boatyard! Boat basins attract large numbers of shoal fish at this time of year and the otters have been coming in for a nice easy meal.

One of our skippers Tobi explained “Otters have been around quite regularly, plaguing the fishermen by venturing into their boats (not whilst the fishermen are in them of course!) We have seen otters in our boatyard, playing around underneath the pontoon and the bows of the Queen’s of the Broads Trip boat. It even felt that they were playing with me as I fumbled on a chilly morning to get my phone out to catch them on camera. I failed!”

One member of staff who had more success taking a photo is our engineer Simon who took this remarkable picture of an otter running across our car park and sitting on the quay heading for a minute!

We are also seeing a good number of birds of prey on our trips, buzzards circling high on the thermals or appearing from the woodland around Wroxham Broad.

A kestrel is also often perching at the top of a tree on Wroxham Island, only temporarily disturbed by our passing trip boat.   “As we approach the kestrel it has tended to take off and fly over the island looking for a tasty morsel – on several occasions we have been able to watch it hovering and holding position whilst it inspects minor movements amid the vegetation,” explained Tobi.

Another very much smaller species we are delighted to be spotting with increasing frequency on our boat trips is the little grebe, also known as a ‘dabchick’.  “Having had a few early spots of little grebes in the late summer, almost every trip is now yielding at least one sighting of these dumpy birds, “ explained Tobi.

Although little grebes are scarce in the main season as the river gets quieter the shy little birds venture out and congregate in growing numbers.

“What started off as a pair of little grebes just downstream of Wroxham Broad on a nice sheltered S-bend in the river has grown to a group of five, spotted twice on our trip on Wednesday – each taking its turn to delicately dive down to fish,” explained Tobi.

Strangely the winter season seems to be having the converse effect on the little grebe’s cousin, the great crested grebe.  “While great crested Grebes are one of the most common birds spotted in the summer, sightings are less frequent at this time of year.  We have only seen two or three pairs of great crested grebes on the duration of our trips although, of course, they are more difficult to spot at this time of year as their feathers have faded from the colourful orange breeding plumage to a white, grey and brown winter outfit,” Tobi explained.

Tufted ducks have risen in number with 20-30 regularly hanging out at the shallow and sheltered northern end of Wroxham Broad. Tufted ducks are another bird whose numbers are bolstered with winter migrants. Whilst some are resident in the UK, we tend not to see any during the summer, as they are very shy and keep hidden away until boat traffic reduces in the winter season.

The coots and tufted ducks seem to be quite sociable and a large group of both types of bird can usually be seen ( 50-60 in total) on Wroxham Broad where they will be using up less energy in the shelter of the trees and shallow parts of the Broad. Here they will be diving down to pick up fresh water molluscs such as Zebra mussels.

A few of the rarer Gadwall ducks have been flying past, probably heading over to Hoveton Great Broad.  These wonderful birds seem a little like a female mallard from a distance but on closer inspection are smaller with an intricate barring pattern on their feathers.

There are still plenty of grey herons to see, which continue to follow Anglers hoping for a free meal!

Other common sights – both pictured by James against a wonderful blue sky – include black headed gulls and Canada geese, which were almost absent in the summer but are returning to Wroxham in growing numbers.

Cormorant numbers are also increasing, with seven or eight on the trees on Wroxham Island and a few on Salhouse Broad. Occasionally we’ve seen them swimming in the river or on trees in the villages.

Another lovely sight was this flock of starlings, which James managed to photograph while out on the river.

Starlings put on one of the greatest shows in nature at this time of the year – known as a murmuration.  At sunset thousands of birds flock together making incredible twisting patterns in the sky that is designed to protect them from attack from predators, who find it difficult to pick off individual birds.  They then settle down in the reedbeds to roost in these tightly packed groups to share warmth in the colder months and possibly to communicate information about the best feeding sights.

Finally, with the Broadland landscape reaching its autumnal best, we will leave you with some beautiful landscape pictures taken by James.

As autumn marches on we are not only being treated to a blaze of colours on the river banks but a wonderful display of wildlife.

We had an unusual visitor in Wroxham Village last week – a Mandarin duck.  The amazingly colourful bird (which was also spotted in the village earlier this summer) was introduced as an ornamental duck from China but has now become established having escaped captivity.

The RSPB estimates that there are now 2,300 breeding pairs of Mandarin ducks in southern and eastern England, with a total of 7,000 birds wintering here.  Despite the growing numbers they are still a welcome surprise with the males displaying distinctive long orange feathers on the side of the face, orange ‘sails’ on the back, and pale orange flanks. The females, by comparison, are much more drab.

We are continuing to enjoy ever more encounters with otters.  At the time of writing an otter had just jumped onto the bows of a small dingy, very close to passengers who were boarding the Queen of the Broads for a boat trip, before jumping back into the water.

Last week an otter surprised skippers and crew by going underneath their feet on the pontoon to board the Belle of the Broads.  “I could hear the otter snorting as it breathed out and as I looked down and it was right under my feet” explained Krissy, a crew member. “I was really excited to see the otter and watched it swim out from under the pontoon, across the boatyard and underneath a fisherman, who said that it had crawled into a hole in the bank,” she continued.

The dayboat team also believe that there is a family of otters living under Wroxham Bridge and Skipper Oli managed to snap this picture of an otter just a little further downstream opposite the Hotel Wroxham at the start of a boat trip.

“Almost as soon as we had turned out of our boatyard and on to the river I noticed a stream of bubbles coming from under some moored boats outside the Hotel Wroxham.  This is a tell-tell sign of an otter and, sure enough, it appeared out of the water a few seconds later,” Oli explained.

“My passengers and I watched the otter swim passed the hotel, cross in front of our boat and then swim up a boat dyke in the opposite side of the river where I managed to take a slightly blurry picture with my phone.  It was a magical encounter, but an experience we are lucky enough to be seeing more and more frequently.  I’ll make sure I have my big zoom camera with me next time so that I get a better picture!“  Oli continued.

Not everyone has been so pleased to see the otters though, with some fisherman complaining of them stealing fish from their keepnets. But Broads Tours’ James Greasley, had the most unusual story: “I was sitting quietly fishing when an otter suddenly came out of the water and snatched an unsuspecting pigeon from an overhanging branch and dragged it under the water.  It gave me quite surprise as I didn’t know that otters did that,” he said.

On the subject of fisherman and wildlife, we have noticed that more and more herons are sitting by fisherman  in Wroxham hoping for a free lunch.  The birds appear to recognize fisherman and realise that they will often throw them a fish.  This is particularly interesting because herons are usually shy, territorial birds but as Wroxham is quite a busy section of the Broads they appear to have not only got used to people but realised the opportunities they bring!

Another very interesting phenomena is lots of birds acting very territorially as they would in the spring.  This includes swans puffing themselves up and seeing off rivals (see picture below), Great Crested Grebes seeming to fight over mates, Kingfishers chasing each other and even an Egyptian Goose returning to the roof of a summer house where the bird had nested that spring.  Our best guess for this behavior is that there is similar daylight and temperatures in the spring to the autumn and this is tricking the wildlife into acting as they would around breeding season.

One bird that certainly knows that winter is coming is the tufted duck.  These shy diving ducks started to reappear on Wroxham Broad about a week ago and are quickly growing in numbers having been absent all summer.  Although the birds breed on the Broads, they hide away in more remote sections of the National Park until the quieter winter months when they come back out into the open and their numbers are also bolstered by birds migrating from Iceland and northern Europe.

Similarly, Canada geese are showing up on Wroxham Broad, having been absent all summer.  This is quite strange as you would expect to see Canada geese (which were introduced from Canada and are now sometimes considered a pest) all year round.  One possible explanation is that they found a more productive food source elsewhere in the summer and are returning as winter approaches.

Finally, we will leave you with two contrasting images taken by Oli during a boat trip.  A heron flying gracefully by Wroxham island and a head shot of a Cormorant on Salhouse Broad – not the most graceful bird but interesting in the right light!

Passengers are being treated to a wonderful display of wildlife – with otters and kingfishers being regularly spotted aboard our trip boats.

David Seaford, a passenger aboard the Queen of the Broads, took this lovely picture of an otter during his trip on 30^th August and was kind enough to send it in to us for the blog.  (If you have taken any wildlife pictures on our trip we would love to see them e-mail info@broads.co.uk!)

Perhaps our most amusing encounter with these lovely mammals came when a female otter popped up right underneath Skipper, Tom, in his small dingy. “I was tying up my Punt having been using it to clean the outside windows of our trip boats in our boatyard.  The otter suddenly appeared from underneath the Punt and gave me quite a surprise,” Tom explained.

Shortly after this the otter made a second appearance in front of lucky passengers who were queuing up for a boat trip on the Belle of the Broads.

On another occasion skipper, Oli, and his passengers managed to get a great view of an otter on Wroxham Broad.  “I was excited to see an otter just in front of my boat as I turned into the upstream entrance to Wroxham Broad.  I followed it for at least 200 meters as it swam across the broad towards some houses, giving my passengers a magical encounter for several minutes.  I was particularly pleased as they had braved a trip on a bit of a rainy day but the lack of other boat traffic due to the weather probably meant that the otter felt confident enough to come out in the open.”

On the same day several other otters were spotted including two playing together on the river just before skipper Tom turned his boat into our marina at the end of a trip.  This area, close to our dayboat hire point, has proved a hotspot for otter activity in recent years, and James Greasley managed to take this lovely picture of an otter with a fish in its mouth their early this year.

Electric blue kingfishers have been adding a splash of colour to many trips.  A family of kingfishers are raising their two youngsters on the river at the downstream entrance to Salhouse Broad.  While we usually see them flashing past low to the water, on occasions the young birds have been happy to remain perched on a fallen tree branch as we quietly pass them – giving a wonderful view.

Another hotspot has been on the river between Wroxham Broad and Wroxham village where two kingfishers are regularly chasing each other.  This is likely to be either parents pushing this year’s young out as autumn approaches or a territorial dispute.

We were very pleased to be sent this unusual picture of a kingfisher by George Walker, who hired a holiday cruiser from our sister company Norfolk Broads Direct.

George said: “What a marvellous site, this beautiful Kingfisher was using the front rail of our boat as a taking off and landing point to fish.  We were moored up in a boatyard on Fair Commissioner when he suddenly appeared.  We watched the coming and goings for several minutes, not daring to move so as not to miss out on this wonder of nature!”

Several other enigmatic birds, synonymous with the Broads, have also been spotted.  Majestic marsh harriers have been gliding over the reed and sedge beds around Horning reach, while Skipper Oli was lucky enough to see a Little Egret.  “The beautiful white wading bird with a long dark pointed bill and long dark legs flew out in front of my boat from the reed beds, where it had presumably been feeding on invertebrates. My passengers and I watched it fly upriver for several magical moments after it crossed in front of our bows,” Oli explained.

Our trips pass Hoveton Great Broad and the reserve’s ranger, Elaine, was really pleased to spot a Bittern there for the first time recently, flying very close to the bird hide she was in.  The highly endangered bird which is related to the heron with brownish striped plumage, providing perfect camouflage as it hunts in reed beds, is one of the Broads most revered species but also one of the most rarely seen.  Despite this we were also lucky enough to spot a Bittern on two separate trips this summer around Horning reach (see previous blog.)

Coots may be a rather humbler bird but are no less synonymous with our National Park having been the inspiration for Arthur Ransome’s fifth Swallows and Amazons book – Coot Club, which was set on the Broads.

We have seen growing number of these birds on Salhouse Broad, with around 14 spotted together last week.  This is promising news as we have seen far fewer coots on the Broads in recent years, with their mysterious decline most likely to be associated with increasing predation from growing otter numbers.

Herons are another bird we have seen in large numbers recently and Oli managed to take this picture of one perched up a tree.

Finally, we will end the blog with this picture taken by Laura Greasley on her phone after an evening cruise.  If you look closely there is a deer peering out of the hedge from a riverside Garden in Wroxham – it’s surprising what may be watching as you head down the river!

Written by Oliver Franzen

With the height of the summer season in full swing and school holidays kicking off we are still enjoying some wonderful wildlife sightings of our rarest creatures.  A fitting tribute to the excellent water quality and sustainable tourism we enjoy today.

Top of the list is the enigmatic Otter – which years ago were highly endangered and hardly ever seen – but now are appearing with increasing regularity on the Broads.

A few days ago, an Otter popped up in our boat basin behind the Vintage Broadsman as passengers were boarding.

Undoubtedly the best otter sighting came on a 4pm boat trip with skipper, Tobi.  An Otter popped up in front of his boat near the downstream entrance to Wroxham Broad.  Remarkably Tobi managed to follow the Otter for about a quarter of a mile as it swam upstream towards the start of Wroxham village, presumably unconcerned by the boat.  It was a wonderful opportunity for passengers to get a really good view of this amazing animal!

Perhaps even more excitingly, we had two separate sightings of a Bittern landing in the reedbeds near Horning reach by skippers Tom and Oli only a few days apart.  Despite being one of the best loved and most iconic birds on the Broads – Bitterns are hardly ever seen as they are very rare, secretive and well camouflaged so to have two sightings in the middle of the day when the river is busy is quite remarkable.  Maybe this Bittern is a particularly brave!

We have continued to have wonderful sightings of Norfolk’s iconic Swallowtail butterfly on Horning reach, but perhaps the most special encounter came while taking Ashley Primary School students around Hoveton Great Broad Nature Trail.

Skipper Oli, who was leading the group said “I led a group of children around Hoveton Great Broad to watch a colony of common Terns nesting from a bird hide but we got more than we had bargained for as Britain’s biggest butterflies – The Swallowtail – emerged from the reedbeds and one even landed on one of the children’s brightly coloured hats.  It was a magical experience that will hopefully inspire the children to continue to enjoy Norfolk’s wonderful wildlife. “

The Children’s teaching assistant, Megan Sayer, managed to take these lovely pictures of the Swallowtail (above and below).  The amazing butterfly is only found on the Broads and nowhere else in the world because its caterpillar can only eat a plant called milk parsley, which will only live in Norfolk’s reed and sedge beds.

Another majestic sight is the increasing number of Marsh Harriers we are seeing on our boat trips, particularly around Horning reach.  These large birds of prey were almost extinct in the 1970s (down to their last pair) but are now an increasingly common sight on the Broads despite being nationally still rarer than Golden Eagles.

Aside from our endangered species we have also had some unusual encounters with more commonly seen animals.

Oli spotted a Cormorant catching a huge eel of at least two feet long, battling it in the water and then gulping it live down its throat in sections.  “I tried to grab my camera to capture the moment but by the time it was safe to take a picture the Cormorant had just swallowed the Eel.  But I managed to take this picture showing the Cormorant looking extremely full and unable to dive away from our boat as a result,” Oli said.

Tom also saw a juvenile heron trying to catch a fish in open water.  “The Heron was flapping around in middle of the river and the fish was jumping out of the water to try to escape from it,” Tom said.  “It’s something I have never seen before as Herons usually stand very still and fish in the shallows.  Maybe it was just a young bird learning the ropes,” Tom said.

Another interesting sight is a hybrid goose, crossed between a Greylag and Canada goose.  The goose, which is shown in the far left of the picture below looks very similar to the Greylags that surround it but has a white stripe across its face, presumably relating to the white chin strap on a Canada goose.

We are keeping tabs on our water bird families, with the Grebes on Salhouse Broad and Swans in Wroxham and Hoveton doing well. The three families of swans have two, three and five cygnets respectively.  The male swans in the families have been acting very territorially, driving each other out of their specific territories recently and even bullying the geese to boot.

Some of the birds seem to be exhibiting some mating ritual behaviour – grebes doing their mirror dance – which makes us think that they may try nesting again before the summer is out. The ducks, as ducks do, just keep on going through the summer and Salhouse Broad yielded a family of twelve fuzzy ducklings!

The bankside colours are extremely striking at present, awash with pinks in the form of Hemp Agrimony, Purple Loosestrife, Greater Willowherb and Himalayan Balsam. The latter is an invasive species that was brought in by the Victorians and is a bit of a problem plant here in the Broads as it takes over and outshades other native species. It does have beautiful flowers though, and unless it has been pulled up by the Broads Authority and their volunteers, you’ll see it growing up taller than all the other flowers with its pink orchid like flowers.

Each year we are seeing more and more lilies along the riverbank and this year is no exception.  In addition to the more common yellow water lilies we have quite a few native white water lilies.  These are not only Britain’s largest native flower but are also very rare as they are very sensitive to any kind of water pollution.  So, the fact that we have so many of these in the Broads these days shows just how good the quality has become.

On another note the fishing season kicked off a month ago and there have been plenty of fisherman out and about. From the river trips we have managed to spot a successful catch with a 20lb pike being held aloft, the wolf of the waterways with their sharp teeth present quite the formidable opponent!

This picture shows Skipper Oli, with a 16lb pike he caught on Rockland Broad two weeks ago.

On a final note, the Broads’ open skies are a feast for sore eyes for colourful reflected sunsets. Here’s a photo Oli, captured on an evening charter.

Remember to email us your sunset and nature photos to info@broads.co.uk

With so much to see on the river why not bring all the family on a Broads Tours boat trip, or hire a dayboat and explore on your own! Tel: 01603 782 207.