After a short coffee break and opportunity to visit 900 years old Wymondham Abbey, we arrived in Wroxham with time to have lunch and stretch our legs before boarding our Broads cruiser.
Channel to River Bure, Wroxham [Attributed to David Dixon https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/43729 ]
The Broad is an area of open water alongside the River Bure in Norfolk, within The Broads National Park. The Norfolk Broads were formed by the flooding of ancient peat workings. It lies to the west of the Bure, with two navigable openings between river and broad.
It was a lovely day and the boat was full. Our guide, Ollie, was extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of the area, from geese to the Vikings and Anglo Saxons who originally dug out the peat, which was the main source of fuel in the area in Saxon times, thereby creating the broads.
During the spring and summer months birds from all over Europe congregate on the broad, from terns, warblers, kites, curlews and every conceivable species of ducks and geese. We were lucky enough to see birds, such as grebes, which build their nests on carefully constructed twig rafts, cormorants dancing together and several of the beautiful egyptian geese, which are actually ducks!
Egyptian Geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca) [Attributed to Berhand Dupont https://www.flickr.com/people/65695019@N07 ]
It was a most interesting outing, botanically, ornithologically and historically, but what we will always remember was the absolute peace, calm and serenity of the Broad.
Joan Garner