Recent Sightings
Up-to-date Sightings
Regular daily sightings from the reserve at RXwildlife website.
April 2008
Despite the often cold and damp weather, with the coming of April, the breeding season at Rye Harbour really gathered pace. This month saw almost the last of our breeding summer visitors arrive, with, the first Cuckoo on the 20th and the first Little Tern on the 9th, numbers of this species reaching 10 individuals by the end of the month.
March 2008
Despite spells of wintry weather, things really began to feel spring-like on the reserve during March. At Ternery Pool, numbers of sea-birds increased steadily during the month, with a maximum of 138 Mediterranean Gull, 1000+ Black-headed Gull and 155 Sandwich Tern present on the 29th.
February 2008
February is usually something of a transitional month between the dark days of winter and new beginnings of spring, and this year was no exception. Despite the continued presence of more typically winter visitors, Redshank, Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover were displaying, Skylark song became a constant feature of the reserve, and there was even a Chiffchaff singing intermittently late month.
January 2008
While wader numbers fell somewhat in comparison to December, January still found good numbers of several species on the reserve. On the Beach Reserve, Flat Beach Level held up to 1700 Golden Plover, 550 Dunlin and 215 Curlew, while at Castle Water Lapwing numbers peaked at around 800 mid-month, and up to 423 Oystercatcher and 160 Sanderling (below) roosted on the Shore Ridges.
December 2007
As with last month, cold weather brought an influx of winter birds to this part of the south coast. Waterfowl numbers, for instance, were even higher than last month, and a count on 11th found 270 Teal, 212 Tufted Duck, 118 Shoveler and 70 Gadwall. On the Long Pit, the two Long-tailed Duck were still present well into December, where they were joined by Scaup, up to five Goldeneye, and, something of a surprise, a male Goosander on the 3rd. At Castle Water up to six Smew (including two superb males) were present briefly mid-month, and a pair there on 31st.
November 2007
Cold weather at this time of the year often brings in large numbers of waterfowl, and a freezing spell this month was no exception. A Wetland Bird Survey count on the 11th found 639 Wigeon (below), 210 Tufted Duck, 151 Teal, 79 Shoveler and 49 Gadwall.
October 2007
October is often an exciting time on the reserve, as passage migrants, the first of our winter visitors and the occasional vagrant reinforce our resident species, and this year was no exception. Highlight during the month were a pair of Penduline Tit seen briefly from the viewpoint (below) on the 20th, only the third reserve record of this rare vagrant.
September 2007
At Castle Water the roost of Little Egrets reached 53 on 7th , duck numbers gradually increased and Bearded Tit were regular in the reedbeds there. The highlight however, was an immature Osprey (below) which was present there between the 1st and 20th of the month. Several Cetti’s Warbler were singing all month.
August 2007
A significant movement of waders during August saw a range of species turn up on the reserve. Highlights were a Temminck’s Stint at Castle Water on the 24th and regular sightings of Wood Sandpiper, with three present on Harbour Farm on the 3rd, while, a Curlew Sandpiper was seen on Harbour Farm on the 22nd, and Little Stint (below) were recorded on three dates.
July 2007
Despite the presence of the odd brood of Black-headed Gull (below) and Common Tern on Ternery Pool, by the end of July the breeding season at Rye Harbour was effectively over for 2007, and it was time for the wardens to take stock.
June 2007
June brought with it mixed fortunes for the special breeding birds at Rye Harbour, the cold wet weather in particular causing a number of species problems. Our poor Little Terns produced there first chicks around the 20th, but these quickly succumbed to the bad weather and the attentions of a marauding Kestrel, and by the end of the month the colony was effectively finished.
May 2007
May saw the breeding season at Rye Harbour get into full swing, and by the end of the month all of the reserves special breeding species had made a start on raising this year’s compliment of young. Some of these, such as Little Tern, had only just began to nest and were still incubating eggs, others, such as Mediterranean Gull, Ringed Plover, Avocet (chick below), Redshank and Oystercatcher hatched their first chicks, while yet others, such as Lapwing produced their first fledglings!
