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
1 June 2015
May was wet and windy
From Hastings Meteorological Station (normal value in brackets)
May 2015
Sunshine 214.4 hours (228.7)
Mean maximum temp. 15.0 C (15.4)
Mean minimum temp. 9.3 C (8.4)
Rainfall 77.2 mm. (44.9)
Gale or stronger 2 day (0.3)
19 May 2015
Latest Wildlife News
There are two places to get the very latest wildlife news for the Nature Reserve:
Read more »16 May 2015
Waders and videos
The wading birds have been good for many months and we have captured some video and sound with trail cameras carefully positioned around various pools. If you want to view them visit our YouTube page by clicking here. There are more than 100 videos on a range of nature reserve subjects
Read more »1 May 2015
Solar Energy
The Friends of the Nature Reserve installed solar panels in July 2013 to provide renewable energy for an office and an electric vehicle (that the Friends also funded in Jan 2013) and surplus electricity goes back into the grid.
Energy generated Apr – 535 kWh
Lifetime energy – 6.8 MWh
CO2 emissions saved – 2669kg
10 February 2015
Marshmallow Success !
Back in 1999 we started a project to increase the number of Marshmallow plants to secure their future and to attract the endangered Marsh Mallow Moth to breed. It has been a long time, involving many volunteers, but last September the first adult moth was located within the 2200+ flowering spikes at Castle Water. So a big thank-you to all who have helped.
Read more »14 January 2015
A Special Place
We have been selected as the The Wildlife Trusts’ Special Place of the week – click here to see
Read more »Recent Sightings
May 2015
The late spring period is perhaps the only time that nightingale can be heard singing around Rye Harbour, with one or two birds usually heard by the Narrow Pits and near the caravan park. Nightingales winter in West Africa and arrive in Britain around about June, with most British breeders occurring in the south-east corner of England.
Image: Noel Reynolds
April 2015
April is a good time to see brown hare on the reserve, particularly the grassy ridges near Camber Castle. At this time of the year, females can sometimes be seen fending off the attentions of amorous males, standing on their hind legs and ‘boxing’ their suitors (it’s this bizarre behaviour which gave rise to the phrase ‘mad March hares’, though it is not confined to this month).
Image: Bohringer Friedrich
March 2015
This month saw the first records of garganey (below) on the reserve for 2015, with one at Rye Harbour Farm on the 17th. This small duck, slightly bigger than a teal, breeds in small numbers at Castle Water, and is unusual amongst British waterfowl in that it is a summer visitor.
February 2015
February saw the first records of Mediterranean gull for 2015, with up to six birds present among larger numbers of black-headed gull at Ternery Pool late in the month. This striking gull, with its pure black head, drooping bright red beak and pale wings was first recorded in the UK in the mid 19th century, with the first breeding in 1968.
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