Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
Rye Harbour Nature Reserve on the East Sussex coast is one of the most important shingle and coastal wetland nature reserves in southern England, a complex of habitats including shingle beach, saline lagoons, reedbeds, grazing marsh and scrub that together support an exceptional diversity of breeding, wintering and migrating birds and a nationally important flora of shingle and coastal plant communities. The reserve is managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust and covers approximately 1,700 hectares of the coastal plain between Rye and Camber.
The shingle beach at Rye Harbour is one of the most ecologically significant areas of the reserve, its stable shingle ridges supporting populations of breeding little tern, one of Britain's rarest seabirds, as well as ringed plover, oystercatcher and common tern. The little tern colony is carefully protected during the breeding season and has been the focus of intensive conservation management over many years, with nest protection measures, warden presence and visitor management contributing to the maintenance of one of the most important populations of this species in the southeast.
The lagoons created within the reserve provide habitat for avocet, black-headed gull and various duck species breeding in summer, while the winter brings large flocks of wildfowl including wigon, teal and pochard to the open water, and the reedbeds support bittern, marsh harrier and bearded tit in numbers that reflect the reserve's quality as a wetland habitat. The reserve is one of the best birding sites in Sussex throughout the year.
The nearby medieval town of Rye, perched on its hill above the surrounding marsh and shingle, provides excellent visitor facilities and its own considerable historic interest, the combination of the reserve and the town making this part of the Sussex coast one of the most rewarding in the southeast.