Upton Broad and Marshes

Situated within the Bure valley, just upstream of Acle, NWT Upton Broad and Marshes is an area of quiet beauty and wildness.

It is protected and managed by NWT, and supports some of Broadland’s rarest wildlife from swallowtail butterflies and Norfolk hawker dragonflies to water voles, otters and a host of wetland plants.

Here you will find primeval-looking alder carr woodlands, open water, fens, reed-fringed dykes and grazing marshes. The nature reserve is a microcosm of the Broadland world and, in the words of the famous local naturalist Ted Ellis, offers ‘a breathing space for the cure of souls’.

Part of the Bure Valley Living Landscape.

Information board, way-marked trail and boardwalks. Reserve leaflet. Paths can be muddy year round.

What to look for

Spring/summer

swallowtail and white admiral butterfly, Norfolk hawker and

hairy dragonfly, variable damselfly, marsh helleborine, milk parsley, greater spearwort, round-leaved wintergreen, bog pimpernel, frogbit, water soldier, stoneworts,

reed warbler, yellow wagtail, hobby.

Autumn/winter

marsh fern, saw sedge, fen pondweed.

Year Round

marsh harrier

water vole.

To read about a short walk around Upton, click here

Walk the Upton Dyke Walk