About the reserve

A missing piece of the Suffolk Broads landscape for wildlife and people, Worlingham Marshes is at the very beginning of its journey from a private grazing marsh to a nature reserve dedicated to wildlife.

Located just north of the village of Worlingham, within the Lower Waveney Valley, the reserve occupies a unique position within the Broads National Park, where we can extend the impact of our work downstream at Castle Marshes and Carlton Marshes.

In 2024, we are able to secure the land for Worlingham Marshes with support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund; take another big step toward our ambition to create a vast wildlife corridor from Lowestoft to the source of the River Waveney at Redgrave & Lopham Fen National Nature Reserve.

The land that has become Worlingham Marshes was previous privately owned and used grazing and wildfowling. With fen, scrub, dykes and foot drains - as well as the River Waveney on the northern boundary - there is ample opportunity for us to extend the wildlife-rich habitats, create new wetland features, and to restore the historic Broadland landscape.

Since securing the land, we have already began to see a thrilling array of wildlife including kingfisher, merlin, short-eared owl, marsh harrier, otter, grass snake, butterflies and dragonflies - giving us a glimpse of the reserve's incredible potential for wildlife.