East Anglia Press Releases for the Norfolk & Suffolk Broads with Press Releases and Articles from the Broads Authority in East Anglia, and the East of England UK.

The Broads Authority's mud pump has begun its first big job since it underwent a major refit, pumping out silt at Barnby Broad, in Suffolk, to help restore its valuable aquatic life.

The privately owned broad, a special site important for wildfowl and water plants, has only a foot of water in it. Nine thousand cubic metres of nutrient rich sediment will be removed over the next three months to increase the water depth to four to five feet, which will allow water plants to re-colonise and provide an improved habitat for the birds. Agricultural run-off, which has caused the broad to silt up, is now being diverted away from the broad.

The Broads Authority's Projects Team has refitted the equipment with a sparkling new pump and wheelhouse. A set of wheels enable the pump to be pushed in and out of the water at remote sites such as Barnby where the ground is too soft for heavy lifting machinery to operate.

The pump sucks up the mud, then pushes it along an 800 metre pipe and deposits it on a field which will later be restored as a grazing marsh. The Broads are not natural features and this technique is an essential and very effective method of maintaining their important value for wildlife.

The restoration of this 2.5 hectare broad is part of the Authority's ongoing programme to bring life back to eight broads funded from additional National Park Grant.

Barnby Broad is not generally open to the public but on July 11th 10 am - 12 noon the public will have a rare opportunity to join a Broads Authority countryside ranger on an orchid walk around this secluded and valuable broad. Meet at Keeper's Cottage off A146 at the Barnby Bends (the white house with a flag pole in the garden. Grid reference TM 483903) Bring stout footwear or wellies. Cost £5 adults, £3 children.

Aerial image copyright Mike Page

Reproduced by kind permission of Broads Authority.