Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
This large area of land is a mosaic of habitats beside the sea with shingle, saltmarsh, sand dunes, rivers, pits, grazing marsh, reedbeds and farmland. Full of wildlife for you to discover with a network of footpaths and 5 birdwatching hides with easy access.
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News
19 May 2013
RX Wildlife Festival
Click here for details of events.
2 May 2013
April was cool
From Hastings Meteorological Station (normal value in brackets)
April 2013
Sunshine 174.8 hours (179.0)
Mean maximum temp. 10.7 C (11.9)
Mean minimum temp. 4.7 C (5.3)
Rainfall 52.6 mm. (47.0)
Gale or stronger 1 days (0.3)
Snow or sleet 3 days (1.2)
1 May 2013
Photo competition
This competition has now closed for entries, and you can view all 80 entries at the link below or enjoy the slideshow…
Read more »13 April 2013
Trip Advisor
Visitors are leaving comments on their experience of the Nature Reserve at Trip Advisor – read their view or leave yours by clicking here
Read more »10 April 2013
Hide Re-opens
The hide at the Wader Pool has now reopened. It was built 26 years ago! Sadly, its legs had rotted and it was a bit too small for some wheelchairs and school groups – so we have completely replaced it. In addition to being a little larger, the hide now faces in a better direction for watching the birds out on the flooded Flat Beach. We have dedicated this new hide to the memory of John Gooders who was Chairman of the Friends for 10 years and an author of many bird books.
Read more »Recent Sightings
April 2013
Mid-April saw the first records of whimbrel on the reserve for 2013. This ‘mini-curlew’ breeds all around the northern hemisphere, including a few hundred pairs in Scotland, and winters at similar latitudes south of the equator. Most birds recorded in Britain at this time of the year are on their way from West Africa to their breeding grounds in Iceland, and Rye Harbour has been a traditional staging post for these long distance migrants, providing daytime feeding on the saltmarsh and sheep-grazed grassland, and overnight roost sites within the electric fencing. From a peak of around 600 birds in 1996, numbers have fallen over the last few years, with a maximum of only 76 birds recorded in 2012. Hopefully, the work we have carried out in recent years to create pits and pools and re-create saltmarsh on Harbour Farm will see numbers increase once more.
March 2013
Bird highlight during March was the appearance of two Kentish plover on the new saltmarsh out from Lime Kiln Cottage on the 25th, the first time more than one of these dumpy little waders has been recorded at Rye Harbour, and both stayed until the end of the month.
February 2013
Bitterly cold weather during February meant that numbers of many waterfowl remained high. Early in the month peak counts included 645 teal, 472 wigeon, 170 gadwall and 147 shoveler, while numbers of goldeneye, a typically winter species at Rye Harbour peaked at 13 mid-month. At Ternery Pool a Slavonian grebe was present on the 2nd and a red-breasted merganser from the 22nd to 28th.
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