Barnby Broad and Marshes
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Castle Marshes
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 Barnby Broad and Marshes within Suffolk
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| Area of Search | Suffolk |
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| Grid reference | TM477907 |
| Coordinates | 52°28′08″N 1°38′49″E / 52.469°N 1.647°ECoordinates: 52°28′08″N 1°38′49″E / 52.469°N 1.647°E |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 189.62 hectares (1.9 km2; 0.73 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1990 |
| Natural England website | |
Barnby Broad and Marshes is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the Waveney district of the English county of Suffolk. The site is 189.6 hectares (469 acres) in size. It is in the parishes of North Cove and Barnby, located between Beccles and Lowestoft in the north of the county. The site is bordered on its southern edge by the East Suffolk railway line and to the north by the River Waveney. It is a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protection Area under the EC Birds Directive, and a Ramsar internationally important wetland site. There are two Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserves in the site, Castle Marshes and North Cove.
The site consists of a mixture of grazing marsh, carr woodland, fen and open water habitats stretching from the edge of the villages of Barnby and North Cove northwards across flood plains to the river. Much of the site floods seasonally and provides a habitat for a variety of bird species.
Barnby Broad is an open water habitat around 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres) in size. It was formed as a result of medieval peat cutting in the same way as much of the Broads system. The broad is privately owned. In 2007 it was cleared of silt to provide an improved habitat with agricultural run-off being diverted from the Broad at the same time.
Fauna found in and around the Broad includes the white water-lily Nymphaea alba, common reed Phragmites australis and the rarer tussock-sedge Carex appropinquata as well as species such as marsh arrowgrass Triglochin palustris and southern marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa. It is surrounded by an area of mature Alder carr woodland with species such as Ash and Oak.
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