Nature & Wildlife 

Norfolk has it all when it comes to wildlife habitat. It has a wide variety of land types it has chalk rivers, ancient woodland, fertile farmland, fen, broad, and breck. A coast line that is full of variety, internationally important wetlands, marshes and sandy beaches. The shallow North Sea is a powerhouse of potential feeding for visiting mammals, fish and birds all that are interconnected in the circle of life.

The Norfolk Coast is one of the major flyways for migrating birds in the spring, summer, autumn and winter. Change is the constant that provides the visitor with an opportunity to see and photograph something different in every season.
There is no off-season on the Broads. Local visitors and those from further afield are drawn to the area all year round, and it’s easy to understand why. This is the perfect place for a mini safari, right on your doorstep.

Spring - Adders, Porpoise and swallows
The adder, Britain’s only venomous snake makes its home in the heathland and dunes near Horsey. And if you’re lucky, you’ll catch sight of one, as the males emerge from hibernation a month earlier than the females. This is also the best time of year to spot the rare and elusive harbour porpoise off the coast. Late May sees an abundance of invertebrate life, like damselflies, flying close the surface of the water. While the inward migration of huge groups of swallows are best seen from conservation centres like the one at Ranworth Broad.

Summer - Hawks, Harriers and butterflies
Nocturnal, shy and extinct across much of Europe, the best time to catch a glimpse of Britain’s largest native crayfish, The White Clawed, is from July to September in the river Wensum. Now only seen in the Broads, Britain’s largest butterfly, the Swallowtail, emerges in late May. One of the best ways to see it is very early on a bright, summer’s morning at Hickling Broad. The impressive Marsh Harrier is another of the Broad’s conservation success stories. Once extinct in Britain, it now nests throughout the area. Mid to late summer also brings a carpet of Purple Sea Lavender blooms across the marsh.

Autumn - Seabirds, sea pups and bluetails
Said to be the best time for for watching seabirds, rare warblers and red-flanked bluetails come inland for the winter, it’s also fungi season, so there’s an array of mushrooms and toadstools making their home on old wood and loamy soil. From the attractive but poisonous red colouring of the Fly Agaric to the edible Chicken-of-the-Woods. The highlight of the year around the coast at Horsey is the start of grey seal pupping season – from October to early February, mothers come ashore, have their babies and nurse them, right on the beach.

Winter - Waterfowl, geese and deer
Chilly North Sea winds don’t deter wildlife watchers during the coldest months of the year. The cacophony of waterfowl overwintering on the salt marshes draws hardy spotters with binoculars.
The Norfolk coast is the best place to see a rarer, dark-bellied variety of the vocal Brent Goose. It’s also a good time of year to spot deer, especially the smaller, non-native, Chinese Water Deer which favours a wet, marshy environment.