Introducing 'Guide in a Hide'

By Linda Wren,

Volunteer and Member of Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

Since we started running ‘Guide in a Hide’ in August 2021, we’ve had over 4000 participants and our volunteer guides have dedicated around 800 hours of their time. And what a joy and privilege it’s been so far!

In a nutshell, we encourage visitors to spend some time in the hide with a group of volunteers who point out the bird life. We set up telescopes and binoculars so you can get a really good view of what’s out there. Lots of people have walked up and down this path for years and never really seen or known anything about the bird life that surrounds them. We are just showing them what they’ve missed.

I’m always impressed by the children. Some are really interested. They scrabble up to kneel on the bench and we say, ‘Can you see that black and white bird with the big, red beak? That's an Oystercatcher’. They sometimes write that down in their book. A highlight for me was a little boy who was so elated to spot his first Kingfisher, he rushed off to buy a little bird book in the Discovery Centre and returned to read it all out to me. Now that is what it’s all about.

What’s also amazing, is how diverse our audience is. I’ve spoken to visitors from Dubai, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Malaysia.

If you fancy coming along to the next ‘Guide in a Hide’ event on Sunday 29th October, just turn up between 10am and 3.30pm at the Gooders Hide. It’s about 100 yards along from the Discovery Centre. I look forward to meeting you there. 

This event is made possible with the National Lottery Heritage Fund.