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Please note this event will be conducted via a Zoom Webinar, please use the QR code for further details.

Royal Life Saving Society UK campaign aiming to reduce drownings related to alcohol and drugs. Encouraging everyone to take responsibility, keeping themselves, friends and family, safe whilst enjoying watersports.

Floating pennywort, introduced in the 1980s, spread in UK waters despite a 2014 ban. Now invasive, it costs over £25M annually to control.

Campaigners warn new water laws fail to protect National Parks like the Broads from sewage pollution, despite planned investment.

Broads flooding and rising water levels often make the news for how they affect bridge clearances and moorings. However, these rising water levels are also having a serious impact on the unique wildlife that makes the Broads so special. Social and traditional media often oversimplify the situation, framing boating and conservation as separate issues. In reality, they are strongly linked and support each other in many ways. Understanding what drives the water levels in the Bro

The Broads have a distinguished heritage in maintaining navigation. It’s the only member of the national park family that has such a long, navigable and tidal inland waterway running through it, which is why the Broads were late to the party in getting full UK protection status. In fact, an international treaty, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, led the way, listing parts of the Broads way back in 1971.   Later on, the Broads were protected unde

More than 200 navigation authorities look after Britain’s inland waterways. All of these have regulations governing access; many require a licence for boating, using the income to maintain waterway infrastructure. In the case of the Broads Authority, an annual toll is charged, as required by the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988. There are 12,000 boats and over 8,000 boat owners who pay these tolls to enjoy over 200km of navigable tidal rivers and more than 60 moorings in t

Our "Walking in the Broads" series continues with this lovely 4-mile walk which starts from the parking area at Hardley Staithe (Explorer Map OL40 G/R TG388012).  Hardley village can be reached from Chedgrave, which is on a good bus route between Norwich and Lowestoft but about two miles distant, via Hardley Road. The route of the walk goes through Hardley Street with its pretty cottages. It then visits St Margaret’s Church, Hardley, with its Norman round tower and 15th centu

Hundreds gathered at Hickling Community Barn on Friday 2nd February for a critical meeting to confront the escalating flooding crisis. The event, which fell on World Wetlands Day, marked a pivotal moment, drawing community members, experts, and officials together to face the mounting challenges. The meticulous planning of the event by Duncan Baker MP and his team, which spanned months, was reflected in the presentations by the diverse panel, drawn from the Internal Drainage B

Today marks World Wetlands Day , and in 2024 we are celebrating the huge impact that wetlands have on human wellbeing. Wetlands, are not simply breath taking parts of our natural landscape but also critical ecosystems providing numerous benefits. These unique areas, where water and land intricately intertwine, are vital for the health of our environment and significantly impact human well-being. Among these precious ecosystems, the Broads, the largest of the UK protected fres

When discussing conservation in the Broads, the first thing to remember is that this is not a natural environment. If it was, we could leave it alone, and it would thrive in its own equilibrium. But because it is largely man-made and has been maintained for human purposes for hundreds of years, if it were left to its own devices the broads and rivers would silt up, woodland would encroach, and much of the area would revert to swamp. Clearly, this is not what is needed. The ba

For hundreds of years knowledge and understanding of the Broads and its ecology was passed down from farmers, marshmen and countrymen to their children. Before the arrival of large machines, the Broads were managed by men and women who watched the weather and seasons, studied the wildlife and plants and understood the land they managed. Their children had space to explore and they also understood the environment. Life is very different in the 21st Century. Fewer people are em