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'...

Tenterden - a Jewel in Kent's Crown

Remiss of me not to have posted much of late; I am somewhat preoccupied with concern for Riley, the homeless cat in Rye Harbour village - the cat I have offered to re-home - and it's rather complicated. But that's another story.

During our vacation earlier this week we visited the town of Tenterden in Kent. This is one of the most beautiful places I have been to, a town with a broad tree-lined High street that is bordered with a well-tendered area of lawn.  It is good to see a busy town centre which is home to many small boutiques and antique shops, as well as craft shops, book shops and various banks, side by side with larger national retailers.

The town boasts no less than six public houses:

• The Woolpack, next to the Town Hall.
• The White Lion, in the High Street.
• The Vine, in the High Street.
• The William Caxton, in the High Street.
• The Crown, at Ashford Road in St. Michaels.
• The Fat Ox at the corner of Ashford Road and Ox Lane in St. Michaels.

Following are some photos of the wonderful buildings in the High Street: a pictorial tour as it were - 

'Riley' - for the love of a cat

The following is the text of an email I sent this afternoon. It helps to explain the story of 'Riley' - the cat in Rye Harbour village:

Hello André

Ros and I are back home from our wonderful break at Harbour Lights; it’s 46 miles door-to-door and took 1½ hours.

It was a pleasure meeting you and I have added to you to the short list of people who I consider friends. Thank you again for the World Music recordings you burned for me. We played one in the car on the way home and it helped to subdue the rather melancholy mood I was in - still am. It’s all about Riley…

The little guy has captured our hearts; we never asked him to walk into our lives - but he did. Perhaps we shouldn’t have fed him - but we did. Perhaps we shouldn’t have allowed him access to the cottage - but we did. In just four days we came to love that cat. Yesterday evening he arrived for his tea; this was after you and I had spoken at length outside the pub. Riley had his tea and we had our dinner. Ros went to watch TV and Riley climbed into her lap and went fast asleep….

Come 10pm we had to part company. I opened the door at the back of the cottage to see if he would leave of his own accord. Several minutes passed before he ventured out onto the patio, washed himself for a few moments - and then he followed the garden path - and was gone.

This morning as I packed items into the car he appeared and wandered in the front door. We had one sachet of food left and gave him that. And of course we had to carry him out before we left. As over-sentimental as it might sound, it broke my heart. Looking at him as I drove away, on my mind for most of the journey, still is.

Please do let me know what develops with Riley’s well-being. So concerned now about the colder nights and inclement weather. If no-one offers him a permanent home, then he has one here with Ros and me and Bertie and Oliver, our two cats. That is our commitment. Perhaps he would be happier in the environment he has come to know but that is no substitute for the love to be found in a permanent home.

Do keep in touch André and send news of Riley....

Intermittent Wi-Fi

Holidaying in Rye Harbour and my portable router only has intermittent reception so will probably have to wait until I get home on Wednesday to post about the trip. If this works here is a pic of our holiday home '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....

Badger cull slammed by wildlife charity

Secret World, based in East Huntspill, is concerned for badgers’ welfare, claiming that up to 22.8% of the animals in the 2013 cull suffered, taking longer than five minutes to die from gunshot wounds. This has caused welfare groups and scientists to condemn the cull as inhumane.

Read more here:

http://www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk/news/11477017.Badger_cull_slammed_by_wildlife_charity/