Past Events

Walk 14 Oct 2023

Six of us joined the Friends’ 08.30 Walk beneath a pure blue sky full of lark song. Swallows streamed across the salt marsh where the dazzling low sun raked rusty samphire and glaucous purslane while silhouetted Avocets swept the shallow pools.

As the Swallows are leaving, other birds arrive: Four Blackbirds could have been arrivals (especially one flying high over the village) and we saw about ten Stonechats around Flat Beach.

On Salt Pool, just beyond grazing Wigeon sat a solitary Brent Goose, but our attention was directed more towards the spectacle of 2 Kingfishers which often hovered for several seconds at a time, their backs flashing in the sunshine.

It’s always fun to estimate, then try counting, the long line of Cormorants roosting on Ternery Pool; the results vary but come out at around 350.

A last departing Wheatear consorted with Linnets among silvery grasses on the shingle, a vanguard of Golden Plovers could be heard piping and the first Rock Pipit of winter squeaked over the Discovery Centre.

Past Events

AGM 14 Nov 2023

Members came along to the Discovery Centre to get an update on Friends’ activities and to elect committee members for the next year. The new Reserve Site Manager, Paul Tinsley-Marshall, introduced himself to the meeting. We look forward to working with him to support the Reserve.

The highlight was the award of Honorary Life Membership to four very special people, who have worked tirelessly over many years for the Reserve and the Friends – Barry and Anne Yates, Cliff Dean and Chris Bentley. You will still see them around, enjoying the Reserve and joining Friends’ events. Thank you to all of them – such hard acts to follow.

Past Events

Birds & Breakfast 01 Oct 2023

Perfect weather and the perfect venue for this mornings event. Over delicious coffee and pastries, served from the Lime Kiln Café, five Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT) and Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve volunteers gave a personal bird-watching experience to 10 lovely visitors.

We were able to discuss and point out birds such as Curlew, Redshank, Little Egret, Cormorant, Linnet and Meadow Pipit and enjoy many Swallows and House Martins flying high and low over the saltmarsh, grabbing their last meals before leaving our shores.

Past Events

Guide in a Hide 17 Sep 2023

Guide in a Hide (GIAH) is part of the Discover Rye Harbour project, funded by the National Lottery Fund through Sussex Wildlife trust (SWT).

The GIAH team comprises volunteers from SWT and the Friends.

Guide in a Hide days are always joyous days. But this event was very special as an Osprey turned up around lunchtime and sat nicely in front of the Gooders hide for 30 minutes or so. As word spread, the GIAH team were not only able to show it to visitors from the hide but also visitors from the Discovery Centre – they could see it through the telescope!

Photo credit Paul Cherry

The numbers of visitors who have come along to GIAH since our first event in August 2021 has almost reached 5000, which is amazing! And our feedback is always good, as you can see below!

Past Projects

Education Shelter

The Friends and their 833 Lottery Club helped to finance a new shelter for the grassland area to use during education activities. It’s so helpful for really hot, sunny days or for during a light shower. It means groups can stay outside as much as possible, which is why the children are coming here in the first place.

It is situated next to the path down to the Discovery Centre.

The shelter was designed by Joseph Williams and is made of sustainable eco-friendly materials including bamboo for the uprights and a stretchable fabric awning. The awning can be taken down and packed away easily when not in use, which makes the shelter almost invisible.

The Friends shared the cost of the shelter with the 833 Lottery, and SWT. We hope that lots of groups will be glad of its shade and shelter during our increasingly hot summers.

Past Events

Recording Day 21 Aug 2023

On the morning of 21st August 2023, a group of Friends spent three hours looking up, down and all around to find and record as many different species of flora and fauna on the reserve as possible.
The Reserve was split into sections and each team designated an area that suited their area of expertise.

95 species of birds were recorded, which included Wheatear, Whinchat, Spotted Flycatcher and Yellow Wagtail. In addition, over 150 different plant species were recorded, including Buckwheat, which was a first for the reserve!

For invertebrates, two moth traps ran overnight in different locations and produced over 70 different species. Bees and butterflies, including several Brown Argus, were also recorded. Other notable recordings included the Scarce 7-spot Ladybird, Short-winged Conehead, a colony of Mottled Grasshopper and this wonderful Superb Dayglower hoverfly (Xanthogramma pedissequum).

Photo credit Theresa Turner

Plants are often overlooked as you wander along, but whoever looks at galls on plants? Well, one of the team did, and even identified the culprit! Wild Carrot galls are caused by the midge Kiefferia pericarpiicola.

Photo credit Ralph Hobbs

Between us, we were able to record a snapshot of what was on or flying over the Reserve that morning. Not too scientific maybe, but recording is so important, and usually throws up some nice surprises.

A really enjoyable three hours was had by all who took part.

Past Projects

Sea Kale Film

This dream-like film presents an unfamiliar vision of the complex, structure and sumptuous colours of one of the most typical plants of our shingle shore. Hastings film-maker Simona Zineviciute has gone down low and up close, enhanced by Julius Zubavicius’ mysterious soundtrack, produced from natural sounds recorded on site. The film is the fourth produced by Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve.

Past Events

Open Day Walk 12 Aug 2023

On our Open Day 0830 walks round Flat Beach we’d normally expect see around 50 bird species but today, with most breeders dispersed and winter birds still to arrive, we found just 35.

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful sunny, breezy morning with clear light and excellent visibility. Two of the group were first-timers and so enjoyed picking out migrant Common Sandpipers and lingering Common Terns as well as practising counting a scuttling band of House Sparrows and lined-up Cormorants.

From Parkes Hide, where the waters of Ternery Pool were an extraordinary green, we shared great close views of Little Egret & Little Grebe with a visiting family. We could hear calls of Curlew & Whimbrel, an overhead Dunlin and a rushing flock of Ringed Plovers.

As usual on summer walks, we spent some of the time learning and revising plants, such as Wild Carrot, Wild Parsnip and Red Hemp-nettle.

Returning along the riverside path, we saw Wheatears perching on fence posts and a human perched on the roof of the Soon-To-Be-Even-Redder-Roofed Hut*.

*Please note that the Red-roofed Hut is privately owned and is NOT part of the Reserve.

Past Events

Guide in a Hide 22 Jul 2023

Guide in a Hide is part of the Discover Rye Harbour project, supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund through Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT).

The Guide in a Hide activity involves a team of volunteers, made up mainly of Friends members, sharing telescopes and binoculars with visitors, to give really close up views of the birds on the reserve, and explain a little about their behaviour and migration routes.

Saturday 22nd July saw a group of 10 Rye Harbour Nature Reserve volunteers run another successful Guide in a Hide between 10am and 3.30pm. 

This time we engaged with at least 171 adults and 50 children. With the assistance of our binoculars and telescopes, we were able to show visitors a wide range of birds found outside the Discovery Centre and the Gooder’s Hide.

In total 27 species of bird were seen during the day.

At one point people were queuing up to see a nearby curlew outside the Discovery Centre and a harassed oystercatcher, with a hungry youngster in tow all day, provided non-stop viewing in the hide.

A fly-by peregrine and avocets feeding by swinging their bill side to side provided interest to many.

Past Events

Lottery Draw Jul 2023

We made the July 2023, 833 Lottery Draw on Sunday 9th July. Thank you to our hardworking Lime Kiln Cafe assistant, Alli Elliott, for pressing the buttons on the Lottery machine. 

Congratulations to all our winners.