Breydon Water

Breydon Water

Breydon Water is the largest of the Broads – it is a great stretch of sheltered tidal water inland of Great Yarmouth, three miles long and a mile wide in places and forming part of the border of Norfolk with Suffolk, thus belonging to both the Norfolk Broads and the Suffolk Broads.

Breydon Water is fed by the River Yare, the River Waveney and other, lesser streams. It opens up into what might once in a past age have been an estuary to the sea, but within half a mile of the sea, it closes again to allow its waters to flow south as a river (by the name of the River Yare) between Great Yarmouth (Norfolk) and Gorleston on Sea (Suffolk).

From the seaward side, Breydon Water is at the gateway to the the Broads river system. It lies on the eastern edge of Halvergate Marshes and is the United Kingdom's largest protected wetland.

Breydon Water is overlooked at the southern end by the remains of the Roman fort at Burgh Castle.

Breydon Water in literature

The naturalist Arthur Henry Patterson A L S (1857–1935), who published under the pseudonym 'John Knowlittle', extensively documented the wildlife of Breydon and the disappearing lifestyles of those boatmen, wildfowlers and fishermen who made a living from the estuary. Extracts from his numerous works are available in 'Scribblings of a Yarmouth Naturalist' by Beryl Tooley, his great-granddaughter (ISBN 0-9549048-0-X published 2004.)

Arthur Ransome Coot Club describes the characters' arrival on Breydon Water:

"She was remembering old Breydon of forty years ago, and old regattas, and boats with bowsprits as long as themselves, racing round a mark-buoy close above Yarmouth Harbour. Dorothea was feeling she was at sea, looking forward over that great sheet of water at the distant smoke of the steamship. Dick, busy with the binoculars, was looking at the birds on the mudflats, watching the herons paddling in the shallows as the water rose, and the gulls, who felt the place belonged to them, mobbing the herons."

Waters entering an leaving the broad

Centuries ago, Breydon Water would have been one large estuary facing the sea. At the western end the water may be considered to start at the confluence of the River Yare and River Waveney; smaller sources including The Fleet flow in from the surrounding marshland. Safe passage for boats is indicated by red and green marker posts. Unlike most of the navigable waterways in the Norfolk Broads, Breydon Water is not subject to a speed limit.

At the east end of Breydon Water the river returns to a narrow channel, passing under Breydon Bridge after which it is joined by the River Bure then under Haven Bridge from where it is 4½ miles through the harbour into the North Sea.

Nature

Breydon's western end at the River Yare, from Burgh Castle

Breydon Water is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Nature Reserve.

At low tide there are vast areas of mudflats and saltings, all teeming with birds. Since the mid-80s, Breydon Water has been a nature reserve in the care of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). It has been a popular shooting area for centuries, and the shooting continues, but on a very much reduced scale.

In terms of nature conservation, Breydon Water is one of the most important estuaries on the east coast between the Wash and the Thames estuary. It has specially protected status by virtue of being a European Union Special Protection Area (SPA).

In the winter, large numbers of wading birds and wildfowl use it to overwinter, including 12,000 Golden Plovers, 12,000 Wigeons, 32,000 Lapwings and tens of thousands of Bewick's Swans. Other species that have been noted there include Dunlin, Sanderling, Whimbrel, several (escaped) Flamingos, Avocets and on one occasion a Glossy Ibis.

There is a bird observation hide at the east end of Breydon Water, on the north shore, looking out towards a breeding platform used mainly by common terns. Other breeding species include shelduck, shovelers, oystercatchers and Yellow Wagtails.

About the water

The Wherryman's Way and Weavers' Way long distance paths follow the northern bank of the estuary from Yarmouth to Berney Arms, a distance of about five miles.

Outside links

• Location map: 52°36’18"N, 1°40’59"E
• Norfolk Broads
• Breydon Water Literary Links
• RSPB Berney Marshes and Breydon Water
• Wherryman's Way long distance walk