Eastbourne Regional Group - February walk and talk

David Beer

Walk at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve - Tuesday 13 February

Fortunately the weather was dry for our morning walk around the Beach Reserve at Rye Harbour. The date and time of the day coincided with a high spring tide so many waders were taking refuge on the salt marsh. There were large flocks of Oystercatchers, Pintail, Dunlin and Sanderling. A single Spoonbill kept its head down in the brisk breeze but there were plenty of Wigeon, Little Grebes, Shoveler and Tufted Ducks on the pools. Redshank were abundant in the muddy ditches and Stonechats perched on the fence posts. The star sighting was a Spotted Redshank. A list of 42 species was recorded by the time we retired to the Discovery Centre for a well deserved hot drink.

Talk by Evan Jones - A Naturalists View of Eastbourne - Thursday 15 February

Evan’s talk provided an excellent overview of the range of habitats found within the Borough of Eastbourne. Many of us are familiar with the chalk downland and the coastline, but the fact that Eastbourne has at least one chalk stream running from Willingdon across the Levels to Langney was news to many in the audience. 

The Eastbourne Levels are under threat from development and Evan described the rich Fenland flora and invertebrate fauna of this understudied corner of the town. The danger is that it will go the same way as the Crumbles with just a few small fragments left of the original ecosystem. The talk was illustrated with numerous stunning photographs of the rich biodiversity on our doorstep. We left the hall under no illusion that without adequate protection, some really rare species will be lost from this corner of Sussex.