Hickling Broad is a nature reserve 4 km south-east of

Stalham Stalham is a market town and civil parish 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 at the 2001 census, the population increasing to 3,149 at the 20 ...

, north-east of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. It is managed by the

Norfolk Wildlife Trust The Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts covering Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and Alderney. Founded in 1926, it is the oldest of all the trusts. It has over 35,500 members and eight local groups and it ma ...

. It is a National Nature Reserve and part of the

Upper Thurne Broads and Marshes Upper Thurne Broads and Marshes is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. Part of it is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, and it is in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. I ...

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

and Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere

Nature Conservation Review ''A Nature Conservation Review'' is a two-volume work by Derek Ratcliffe, published by Cambridge University Press in 1977. It set out to identify the most important places for nature conservation in Great Britain. It is often known by the initial ...

site, Grade I. It is in the Norfolk Coast

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

, and part of the Broadland

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cert ...

, and The Broads

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

. It is the broad with the largest surface area, and the water is slightly

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estu ...

, due to its proximity to the sea.''Inland Waterways of Great Britain'', Jane Cumberlidge, (2009), Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson, The navigation channel is only 1.5 m deep, with much of the broad being shallower; it is 1.4 km², making it one of the largest expanses of open water in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

Ecology

It has the largest reed-bed in England and supports rare waterweeds such as the holly-leaved naiad and three rare species of

stonewort Charales is an order of freshwater green algae in the division Charophyta, class Charophyceae, commonly known as stoneworts. Depending on the treatment of the genus ''Nitellopsis'', living (extant) species are placed into either one family (Cha ...

. Amongst the rare insects is the Swallowtail butterfly, subspecies ''Papilio machaon brittanicus'' which feeds on milk-parsley (''

Peucedanum palustre ''Peucedanum palustre'' (milk-parsley) is an almost glabrous biennial plant in the family Apiaceae. It is so called in English because of the thin, foetid, milky latex found in its young parts and is native to most of Europe, extending eastwards ...

''), the

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 ...

''Aeshna isosceles'' and

Emperor dragonfly The emperor dragonfly or blue emperor (''Anax imperator'') is a large species of hawker dragonfly of the family Aeshnidae, averaging in length. The generic name ''Anax'' is from the ancient Greek , "lord"; the specific epithet ''imperator'' is ...

. Birds that visit the reserve during the winter include cranes,

common goldeneyes Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally co ...

s, shovelers and teals, while

Eurasian bittern The Eurasian bittern or great bittern (''Botaurus stellaris'') is a wading bird in the bittern subfamily (Botaurinae) of the heron family Ardeidae. There are two subspecies, the northern race (''B. s. stellaris'') breeding in parts of Europe a ...

marsh harrier The marsh harriers are birds of prey of the harrier subfamily. They are medium-sized raptors and the largest and broadest-winged harriers. Most of them are associated with marshland and dense reedbeds. They are found almost worldwide, excluding ...

common pochard The common pochard (; ''Aythya ferina'') is a medium-sized diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin ''ferina'', "wild game", ...

water rail The water rail (''Rallus aquaticus'') is a bird of the Rallidae, rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are bird migration, migratory, but this species is a perma ...

s and

Cetti's warbler Cetti's warbler (''Cettia cetti'') is a small, brown bush-warbler which breeds in southern and central Europe, northwest Africa and the east Palearctic as far as Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan. The sexes are alike. The bird is named after t ...

s stay for most of the year.Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Hickling Broad NNR
accessed 2010-03-13 There is a waymarked walk around the broad.

Sea planes

Hickling Broad aerial image (21233749111)

Hickling Broad was used as reserve station for sea planes by the

RNAS The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

, in the period 1916–1918, as an escape for RNAS South Denes. It was known as RNAS Hickling Broads. Contractors started building a concrete slipway, but this was never completed. Eventually, Hickling was only used for two emergency landings. A separate arrangement allowed seaplanes destined for

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

to land on the calmer waters of the broad if the sea were too rough (this arrangement stands to this day). RNAS South Denes was located in the area which is now the South Denes Camping and Caravan site. There is a commemorative

Blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

in Regent Street in Great Yarmouth, it reads "Headquarters of the Royal Naval Air Service Occupied these premises during WWI April 1913-November 1918 Flying land & sea planes from South Denes, Hickling Broads, and heavily involved in anti Zeppelin warfare."The Blue Plaque (4918) in Great Yarmouth on the Blue Plaque website
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References

{{Authority control Norfolk Wildlife Trust National nature reserves in England Norfolk Broads Seaplane bases in the United Kingdom Seaplane bases in England Hickling, Norfolk