Rye Harbour Village and Nature Reserve

Rye Harbour village figures a lot in my current jottings, for reasons those of you who read my blog will know. Rye Harbour is a village located on the East Sussex coast in southeast England near the estuary of the River Rother: it is part of the civil parish of Icklesham and is located some two miles downstream of the town of Rye. The village has a large car park, two pubs, a shop, a café and a gallery and tea room. The Rye lifeboat is stationed here.

The RNLI Lifeboat Station

Having recently holidayed here with my wife Ros, met Riley - the cat we want to adopt - enjoyed the hospitality of the William the Conquerer public house, Rye Harbour village is a place I could happily relocate to.

View of the village from the nature reserve

The village is 200 years old, having been built on an extension of the shingle beaches, progressively deposited by the sea over the last 800 years.

The Rye Harbour Nature Reserve was established nearby in 1970 and it now offers special wildlife experiences to 200,000 visitors a year. It has national and international designations and is home to more than 150 rare or endangered species.

The vast expanse of shingle that borders part of the NR

Moorings on the River Rother

The area is vast, rugged and wild to a great extent. A wonderful place for those with an adventurous spirit. For those of us who never really grow old....

And I cannot resist another 'look' at our holiday cottage 'Harbour Lights'...

Packed and Ready...

We are packed and ready to go tomorrow. A pleasant drive along the Sussex coast to Rye Harbour and 'Harbour Lights' cottage, our 'home' for the next five days. Plenty of R&R, birding, seafood, good wine, real ale, single malts, books, music, local pubs, beach-combing, antique shops, shoe shops (Ros only), book shops, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, wellingtons, Tilley hats, Barbour coats, OS maps... and perhaps an umbrella!

BirdTrack

I have joined BirdTrack. This is a site where records submitted by BirdTrackers form the central elements of the page. You can explore the map to find out what has been seen locally or to visualise the relative frequency of records of any species across Britain and Ireland. You can discover the latest reporting rates (the percentage of complete lists that contain each species) using the interactive graphing facility and see which members of the BirdTrack community have been most active via the ‘Top BirdTrackers’ tables… and log in to see how your own BirdTrack stats compare.

Having entered my record list for 2014 so far I find myself at position number 1,780 in terms of species recorded this year.

Clearly I have much to do. A visit to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve this weekend should contribute significantly to my list....

Location, Location...

The cottage we have booked for a late September break is situated at Rye Harbour and overlooks Rye Harbour Nature Reserve . Perfect for autumnal walks and bird-watching. One other bonus: Harbour Lights cottage is just a few doors away from the William the Conqueror pub, a Shepherd Neame house.

Shepherd Neame is Britain's oldest brewer, based in Faversham, Kent since 1698 and brews a range of quintessentially Kentish ales including Spitfire  Bishops Finger and Master Brew as well as award-winning lagers, including Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Asahi. Being a Man of Kent and a lover of fine ales I find this most acceptable.

All I need to do now is tell my wife....

Picture Postcard "Harbour Lights"

September is a good month to visit Rye in Sussex. Particularly if you enjoy bird-watching. And I have just booked a holiday at this delightful cottage "Harbour Lights" for late September. The perfect time for Autumn arrivals of so many of our birds that overwinter here.

Harbour Lights is a small, modernised fisherman's cottage, a Grade II listed building dating from the late eighteenth century and situated in the fishing and yachting village of Rye Harbour. It is right on the harbour "front" which consists of half a dozen picturesque cottages and the William The Conqueror pub. It is a stone's throw from the tidal River Rother and the RNLI lifeboat station, and not far from the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve (of particular interest to me for the bird-watching opportunities). The sea is about half a mile away, approached on the Rye Harbour side by a gated road which prevents access by cars. Thus the beach (part shingle, part sand) does not get very crowded. Westward, extensive shingle, grazing land and marsh provide open country walking to Winchelsea. The sands at Camber are five miles away by road.

So, there we have it. Autumnal days strolling the beach, searching rock pools, bird-watching and generally chilling out with a few good books, good food, a wee dram or two and quiet nights....