Hickling Broad is a year-round haven for wildlife.
It is easy to spend a day walking around Hickling’s trails or, in summer, gently while away a couple of hours taking in the Broad’s hidden corners on one of the summer wildlife water trail boat tours.
Hickling has many common cranes, along with bittern, marsh harrier bearded tit and Cetti’s warbler. In winter, large numbers of marsh harriers roost in the reedbed northeast of Stubb Mill; merlin and hen harriers are also regular. Barn owl is almost guaranteed and you may see kingfisher if you are lucky. Interesting mammals include the introduced Chinese water deer, red deer and hard-to-see otters.
Being so close to Hickling and Horsey, our farmland plays host to most of this wildlife. We are happy to point you in the direction of where you are most likely to spot cranes, deer and marsh harriers, some of our guests have spotted a kingfisher on the marshes, but so far, I haven’t been that lucky. Still, I regularly see the Barn owl. If you are an early riser, it’s great to get out on the farm for a walk before breakfast to see what wildlife is around.
