Fairly quiet between Rye and Camber, but I had superb views of a Short-eared Owl. It wasn't just mobbed by Jackdaws, it suffered multiple physical assaults. Callous corvids. @sussexornitholo.bsky.social #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #birds #WeBS

The best bark is Hornbeam. No further questions, Your Honour.

Flatropers Wood Nature Reserve. Variable Oysterling, Hornbeam, Clustered Bonnet and a view into the canopy. @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #mycology #fungus #trees

Tawny Owls have been vocal for a while and the next breeding season is already upon us. The circle of life turns quickly, with great power and longevity. It will outlive selfishness and stupidity. Stay strong, all. Stay strong.✊🏼 @mrhenrymorris.substack.com

Overheard conversation as a very high tide covered the saltmarsh this morning... 'Wow - look at that!' 'I've never seen the water so high!' 'No! And yet there's still a hosepipe ban. It's just ridiculous!' 🤦🏻

In a quick visit to Flat Beach this morning I saw American Golden Plover, 100s of European Golden Plover, Spotted Redshank, Spoonbill, Pintails and Peregrine. But what was seen at Rye Harbour NR in October? @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @sussexornitholo.bsky.social #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife

Part of a large patch of Devil's Fingers fungus (aka Octopus Stinkhorn) in Rye, East Sussex. I smelt them before I saw them. An intense bouquet of rotting flesh to attract insects that then help spread spores. Brilliant! @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #fungi #mycology #UKwildlife

We can make it better join.greenparty.org.uk

Shout out to Goat Ledge, Cow Gap, Lee Ness Ledge, My Lord's Rock, Friar's Bay and all the other unsung coastal features I can see on OS maps around here... with maps I can go walking every day in my mind. And I do.

'Petanque Pitch - Not for Dogs'. Of course not, they're far more interested in fetching sticks. In any case, their hand-eye co-ordination is very poor.

Sat amongst the beach furniture at Rye Harbour watching waders on the shore: Oystercatcher, Ringed & Grey Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, Turnstone, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew... is there a better bunch of birds than the waders? #UKbirding #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

We saw nearly 50 bird species and had 130 visitors to Sussex Wildlife Trust's 'Guide in a Hide' event on Saturday, staffed by Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve vols. Highlights included 2,000 Golden Plover, 50+ Pintail, Spoonbill etc share.google/mfn9VVC8oR2G... @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

Large areas with very few birds on East Guldeford Level today. But, some nice stuff including 22 Tree Sparrow, 6 Corn Bunting, 3 Green Sandpiper, 470 Lapwing, 2 Cattle Egret, 1 Great White Egret, 7 Stonechat and flocks of Wigeon passing over. #UKbirding #Sussexbirding @sussexornitholo.bsky.social

I used my 'extra hour' wisely, coming up with birding footballers... Goose Grobbelaar Rory Delapwing Goosanders Limpard Mergansergio Aguero Fulmark Hughes Raheem Starling Eider Gudjohnsen Ganneto Tony Woodcock Osprey Parlour etc #UKbirding #Football

Today I saw an upside down Union Flag tied with cable ties to a plastic stick.

Bit blowy, but nice out. Blasting around the lanes on my bike I happened across Redwings, Stonechats, Great White Egret, Spoonbill and Kingfisher. Stopped at Broomhill Sands long enough to count four Black Redstarts. #UKwildlife #UKbirds @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

Wow! This 'undertaker' Sexton Beetle is about to bury an enormous dead Minotaur Beetle. The female will lay eggs by the corpse so that the larvae have ready food. This was in a sandy glade at Brede High Woods, Rye, this morning. #UKwildlife #insects #beetles @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

View into Rye, East Sussex, from Monk Bretton Bridge this morning. Spoonbill, Greenshank and Black Redstart were also visible from this point. #EastSussex #1066country #UKwildlife

At last! The leaves are falling to reveal trunks, limbs and twigs. Skeletons, sinews and silhouettes. Distinct architectural shapes. This is when I start to love trees the most. 🍂 #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

Each time I approached the Castle Water hide this summer I was struck by how human the hidden Cormorants sounded. Like old men in the pub snug, chortling and clearing their throats, their booze-fuelled wisecracks and beer banter. Last orders were called and it's quiet now. #naturewriting #UKwildlife

Minimum of four Black Redstarts on flood defence boulders and coastguard cottages at Broomhill Sands, Rye, this morning with 2 adult male and 2+ female-types. Also 2 Wheatears and a Merlin failing to catch a Meadow Pipit. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife @sussexornitholo.bsky.social

Today I mostly stared at scrub in the hinterlands of Rye Harbour NR. But nothing much popped out to say 'hello'. Still managed to see 84 bird sp, including 17 wader sp, without visiting the 'Best Bit'. Feel lucky to have RHNR 🙏🏻 @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #birds

Some birds on WeBS count between Rye and Camber: 1 Spoonbill, 47 Brent Geese, 183 Golden Plover, 97 Lapwing, 68 Curlew, 32 Dunlin, 74 Redshank, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Great White Egret, 2 Kingfisher. Also 100s of Goldfinch. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #birds #WeBS

Flat calm and windless at Rye Harbour this morning. A low blanket of cloud reflected the soft chimes of 100s of Golden Plover. They put me in mind of kindly ghosts calling lost loves. I wanted a benign mist to descend so I could just listen and not see. #UKwildlife @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

It's Devil's Coach Horse season. 🖤 #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #Beetles @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

The incredible Pale Tussock moth caterpillar in Rye today. The adult is grey!🤭 #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #mothsmatter @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

A lovely soft light and a flat calm sea at Broomhill Sands, Rye where there were 4 Red-throated Diver, 100 Gannet - some close in - 200 Oystercatcher heading west, 75 Sandwich Tern and an Arctic Skua. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #birds

A bloke in a van, on his phone, nearly drove over me today. Very nearly. I'm a respectful cyclist. I do everything I can - and more - to share the roads safely. But I get treated like s**t by some drivers most times I cycle. But I won't be cowed. I won't stop cycling. youtu.be/DHUes0dGjUI?...

In our garden Fleabane flowered forever 💛, and it was good enough to pass the baton onto Yarrow 🤍 (pictured) which is still going strong well in October. Hoverflies send their thanks. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

An influx of Ibis, large numbers of big Egrets and the annual autumn wader-fest... September wildlife sightings at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlide @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @sussexornitholo.bsky.social

Who else got absolutely swamped with 100s of Harlequin Ladybirds this afternoon? @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #insects

A couple of Arctic Skuas were bothering Sandwich Terns close in at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve this morning. Like they don't have enough to worry about, with a 4,000km journey to West Africa looming. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #birds

Every morning I remind myself how lucky I am to have fresh water for a cup of tea and a wash. 'Woke' nonsense, some might say, but I find the thought helps me in lots of ways. Because we don't know we're born.

Windy on the edge of East Guldeford Level, East Sussex: Hobby, Peregrine, 81 Curlew, 65 Lapwing, 2 Green Sandpiper, 5 Stonechat, 65 Skylark, 1 Corn Bunting, dozens of Meadow Pipit, 100s of House Martin & Swallow. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @sussexornitholo.bsky.social

I love how each season changes how I feel about almost everything. Autumn brings melancholy, which used to throw me, before I realised it's not a gateway to sadness.

Just learned that 'Súitú' is an Irish-language word meaning the sound of waves pushing and pulling shingle up and down the seashore. Superb word.

This ichneumon wasp - likely Black Slip Wasp - just brought its shadow into the kitchen. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #wasps

The Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve have loved leading a range of Rye Arts Festival events, closing with today's community wildlife art panel workshop, celebrating our wading birds. Thank you James Tomlinson! Please join us. ryeharbourfriends.net/join-us @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

For 10 days there's been a constant flow - sometimes a trickle, sometimes a flood - of Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins, in that order of prominence, over our Rye house. I know it must, but I really, really don't want it to end. @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @sussexornitholo.bsky.social

There are more ichneumon wasp species than there are bird and mammal species combined, yet most people have never heard of them. This one, at Castle Water, Rye Harbour NR, is Achaius oratorius, I think, but they are notoriously hard to ID. #UKwildlife #insects @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

This curious little creature, like a taxiing glider aircraft, has the wonderful name of Flutter Fly! This is Toxonevra muliebris, in Rye, East Sussex. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #flies @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

Lovely Box Bug in our Rye garden today. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #bugs @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

Here's a summary of wildlife sightings at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve in August 2025, from the Sussex Wildlife Trust website. @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #birds

Extolling the virtues of Ivy as a super-supporter of wildlife, in Rye News. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #UKplants @bsbibotany.bsky.social @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

I pay close attention to each passing Swallow because this elegant flow will soon become a trickle and then they'll be gone, but for a memory of sleek, blue-glossed transcendence. #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #birds @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

Castle Water today: 11 Glossy Ibis, 100s Swallow & Sand Martin (N), 500+ Meadow Pipit, c100 Pied Wagtail, 18 Siskin, c10 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Cattle & 10 Great White Egret, 120 Wigeon, Hobby, Peregrine, loadsa Chiffchaff etc @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @sussexornitholo.bsky.social #UKwildlife #birds

10 Glossy Ibis over Camber Castle, Rye Harbour NR, then heading north... might've landed towards northern end of Castle Water. @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @sussexornitholo.bsky.social #UKwildlife #birds

Wild bird numbers continue to fall in UK with some species in ‘dramatic freefall’

Spoonbill and 2 Great White Egret on the new intertidal habitat created as part of ongoing River Rother flood defence works, viewed distantly from Monkbretton Bridge, Rye. A 'scope might pick out some interesting waders... #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife #birds @sussexwildlife.bsky.social