Birding at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

Castle Water @ Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve is quietly tucked away on the south coast and 'as the crow flies' is not far away from the RSPB's Dungeness Nature Reserve. Both attract many birds and visitors alike throughout the year, but for me Rye is less of a drive and hits that spot in my soul, where I find myself completely relaxing and tuning in to the wildlife around me. I'm not a twitcher by any means, I wouldn't even describe myself as a good birdwatcher. I don't particularly know what I'm looking at when sitting in one of the hides overlooking Ternery Pool or Flat Beach, but simply being there with little else other than the sight and sounds of birds is my cup of tea. That's not to say I'm not relatively clued up of course; I know the difference between a Redshank and a Ringed Plover, I just can't tell a Dunlin from a Sanderling unless I've got a good view and a good book.

Three things I normally have with me are warm clothes (it can get cold and windy!), my binoculars and my camera. Late last year I changed from a Panasonic Lumix FZ200 to a Canon SX50HS. The image quality on the Lumix is, in my opinion, superior to the Canons, but at a place like Rye it's handy to have the extra zoom that the Canon offers. The big advantage any 'bridge' camera over a DSLR and telephoto lens is the fact they are considerably lighter, something I appreciate as I like to walk quite a lot. This is another thing I love about Rye Harbour NR, it's a huge place so if you want you can easily spend hours walking, especially if you visit Castle Water hide, but equally it's ideal for a short walk too. Recently I have done both, I always enjoy my time here and often come away with a good picture or two. Here are my best efforts from the past month or so:

Flat Beach

Stonechat

Green Woodpecker

Wigeon

Redshank

Golden Plover

Camber Castle

Snipe

Camber Castle at sunset

Mute Swan

Stonechat

Stonechat

Stonechat

Little Egret

Flat Beach with Denny Hide in the background

The reserve is supported by Sussex Wildlife Trust as well as 'The Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve'.

Barn Owl at Bodiam

On the 28th December, Allan stopped off at Bodiam after spotting the Barn Owl which breeds there. I therefore decided that as I was working on Sunday I would go back that way as at 4pm there would still be some light. On the way there I knew I would stop anyway to photograph the sunset even if the Barn Owl wasn't about. After pulling up, I walked back to the bridge and all of a sudden the Owl appeared from my left, flying across the river. I had prepared my camera for the sunset so in my attempts to get a photo of the Owl flying just in front of me, I failed miserably. Fortunately for me, however, it spent a while heading up river towards the sunset, before turning back and flying underneath the very bridge I was standing on. After coming out the other side, it spotted something on the river bank and went down to grab it. I then had a bit of time to steady my hands, set my camera properly and get some decent pics. In the low light, my Lumix decided to focus on the reeds in front of the Owl, so I had to move a bit to get it in focus. Out of the hundreds I took, 1 or 2 came out half decent, but that was good enough for me. The moon was just rising over the trees to the east, looking stunning as the last of the sun bounced off it, topping the whole experience off nicely.

Allan's photo of the Barn Owl on the 28th December

Flying across the river as I stood on the bridge

Up river as the sun was setting

With his catch

Wish I had the composure to get this shot with the Barn Owl flying towards the camera!

Moonrise