Sussex Scrapbook
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Wildlife walks throughout the year
Saturday 29th April 2006
Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
Well the weather man said that today would be the only reasonable day over the
whole bank holiday weekend, so we got ourselves down to Rye Harbour Nature
Reserve to see what we could find. We didn't expect to see the Bitterns again as
they have left now. But what we did hope to see were some Swifts. We reckon that
you can't call it summer until these fantastic little fliers are back with us.
The reserve is huge and takes 2 days to see properly, so we cherry picked the
areas we wanted to see. The Ternery pool was audible from a distance due to the
large breeding colony of Common Terns and Black headed Gulls that is there. The
birds are either mating or squabbling, so the place is a hive of activity.
Amongst the throng we were able to pick out quite a few other species too;
Sandwich Terns, Little Terns, Mediterranean Gulls, Ruddy Ducks as well as the
normal residents such as Oystercatchers and Lapwing.
At Rye you really don't know where to look first as the land and sky seem to be
teeming with life. We had flocks of Bar-tailed Godwits and Curlews flying over
us, Grey Plover in the shingle, Linnets and Yellowhammer in the fields and Green
Woodpeckers in the trees. There are even noisy Marsh Frogs in the small ponds.
Time was getting on, so we got back on the bike and went the mile or so inland
towards Castle Water. In the hide there we had the highlights of the day. First
we spotted some black-necked Grebes in their summer breeding plumage. We had
never seen this species before and we did not expect to see it with it's
colourful head feathers on show as they tend to breed in the north of England.
Just as we were about to leave, in came the Swifts! Summer had finally arrived.
They did not look the slightest bit tired after their non-stop flight from
Africa. In fact, these birds do not touch down for at least the first 3 years of
their lives, and they go to Africa every year! They sleep and even mate on the
wing. Estimates of their mileage starts at half a million miles, but no one
knows for sure.
Even though the rain threatened we remained dry and had a great ride there and
back.
Ternary pool.
Part of the waterway and reed bed around
Castle Water. You can see the castle in the background.
The area also has lots of grassland. The
home of sheep, Skylarks and other meadow birds.