Breeding Birds at Rye Harbour

With more than 90 species of bird nesting at Rye Harbour it takes the SWT team a lot of time to determine numbers of pairs and breeding success every year. This counting is important because it is the raise and fall of populations that let us know if our management of the nature reserve is being successful or not.

For a focus on the Rye Harbour Avocet population click here.

For a focus on the Rye Harbour Little Tern population click here.

Here is a 2017 summary of a few of our special breeding birds...

170 pair common terns fledging success high (above an adult feeds its flying young)

15 pair little tern fledged six young

240 pair Sandwich terns fledging success ok (see video below for the noise and activity of our successful ternery)

1400 pair black headed gull fledging success high, a late start and decline in numbers that we think was due to the very dry spring, so they couldn't find their grassland worms.

3 pair Mediterranean gull fledged two young, a big decline in the colony size that we think was also due to the very dry spring.

2 pair common gull (below) did hatch some chicks but failed to produce any to the flying stage.

15+ pair redshank fledging success ok

13 pair lapwing fledging success low

30+ pair ringed plover fledging success high

68 pair avocet fledging success high

25+ pair oystercatcher fledging success high (below)

1 booming bittern between 10th March and 27th April no breeding suspected

1 pair marsh harrier fledged two young

8+ pair bearded tits appear to have done well

10 pair wheatear fledging success high (below are 2 chicks)