The Handbook to the Rivers and Broads of Norfolk & Suffolk

by G. Christopher Davies

SHOOTING AND SKATING.

This district is well worth a visit in the winter time, for the wild-fowl shooting on the tidal portions of the rivers is free (of course you must not trespass on the marshes for shooting purposes, as the shooting along them is strictly preserved). The usual plan is to row along the river while your dogs work through the reeds on the bank inside the river wall, or embankment, which generally runs parallel with the rivers on each side. Flight shooting is also successfully pursued, but of course you must obtain information as to the best spots in the line of flight. Oulton Broad is free, but is much shot over. Breydon Water is a capital fowling-ground in hard winters. It is the “happy hunting ground” of Yarmouth gunners. An easily managed sailing-boat of light draught is useful for this kind of work.

Winter time on the Broads is very enjoyable. Being so shallow, the Broads are soon frozen, and the skating is then simply superb. Fancy Hickling, a lake of 400 acres, safe all over, with the ice as clear and hard as glass, and plenty of “elbow-room” for ice-boats as well as skaters.

It would be worth while for skating parties to come down for a few days at a time while the frosts last, instead of struggling amid the crowds which beset London waters.

FAUNA OF THE BROADS.

I cannot do more than cursorily mention the abundant life which teems amid the Broads. I would refer the reader, for a full account of the life of the Broads thirty years ago and now, to that charming book, worthy to be ranked with “The Complete Angler,” and “The Natural History of Selborne,” “Observations on the Fauna of Norfolk, and more particularly on the District of the Broads,” by the Rev. Richard Lubbock, M.A., a new edition of which, with suitable notes by Mr. Thomas Southwell, has lately been issued by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons, London and Norwich. This book, together with Stevenson’s “Birds of Norfolk,” are necessary companions to the ornithologist on the Broads. For a fuller general descriptive account of the district, I may also refer the reader to my own larger book, “Norfolk Broads and Rivers,” published by Blackwood.

Of course, water-fowl predominate. The heron, the great-crested grebe, the coot and water-hen are constantly to be seen. Dabchicks abound in places. I have seen a score together in some open water, at Surlingham, during a frost. Kingfishers are seen occasionally; water-ouzels never in the navigable waters. Wild ducks, widgeon, teal, and other ducks, gulls, terns, and waders of many species, hawks, kestrels, marsh harriers, and hen harriers are occasionally met with, particularly about Hickling. Owls, reed wrens, reed buntings, and bearded tits (I know a colony of the latter), and other birds occur to me as I write, but detailed lists of the Norfolk species will be found in the “Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society” of past years. It is sufficient to say that not only in the department of ornithology, but of entomology and botany, the specialist will find abundant work. During the days and nights I have spent in the more secluded parts of the waters, and particularly in the very early hours after daybreak, I have watched the habits of certain rare species, and discovered their haunts, which I would not reveal for anything, for to do so would be to expose them to the ravages of collectors. I am not a collector myself, nor have I the remotest pretension to science, but I am an enthusiastic student of what I may call the “home-life” of birds and animals. Therefore I cannot give accurate scientific information, in the shape of lists of Broad species without borrowing from the labours of others, and the clothing the dry bones with flesh would require more space than a guide-book will allow. But let a man lie in a boat, amid the reeds, for an hour of the silvery dawn, and watch a pair of great-crested grebes, feeding their young ones with small fish, and teaching them to dive and catch fish also, all so close that you might at times touch the birds with a fishing-rod, and he will partly understand what to me is the charm of Natural History. And for the romance of it there is no place like the reed-surrounded Broad and its marshy borders.

Footnotes.

[29] This bridge was the scene of a most disastrous railway collision, in September, 1874, when two trains met, and an appalling loss of life resulted, 25 persons being killed, and 60 or 70 injured.

[70] [Note. This is left as first written, but it is necessary now to say that since the death of Mr. Chamberlin, the owners of the Broad have obtained a decision in the Superior Courts that the public have no right to fish on Wroxham Broad, and although the navigation question has not been raised, the owners claim the Broad to be private property. At the same time they courteously disclaim any intention of closing the Broad to the reasonable enjoyment of the public. Sailing on the Broad is freely permitted, but yachts are not allowed to moor there at night, on account, it is said, of the unavoidable refuse floating against the private pleasure grounds of the owners. Persons also are not allowed to land. It is to be hoped that the good behaviour of the public will remove all idea of closing the Broad to the public, which would be nothing short of a calamity. The regattas on this Broad which used to be such sources of amusement, have been quite discontinued, partly on account of the difficulty in getting the present racing craft up the North River, and partly through the reluctance of yacht owners to ask the favour of sailing where they formerly supposed they had a right.]