Introducing the Friends: Patrick Bonham, Membership Secretary

Laura Ross

Communications Officer, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

It wasn't until Patrick's teenage years, that his love for wildlife was ignited, but since then he's been hooked. A move to Rye in 1975, led him to become involved with the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, where he's been ever since. Now in the role of Membership Secretary, I spent some time understanding what he enjoys most about it and his hopes for 2025.

Tell us more about where your interest in the natural world came from?

At the family home in Chingford, I had no real interest in wildlife until my younger sister, Christine, persuaded me to take her out birdwatching in the car I’d just bought at age 17. We had no binoculars, of course, but in Epping Forest I remember watching Skylarks, Woodpeckers and more – and somehow it just clicked! Within weeks I’d found several local ‘patches’, bought an old monocular (all I could afford) and started keeping notes. My interests have since widened way beyond birds. For example, I’ve operated a moth trap for 25 years, run a county butterfly atlas and studied dragonflies and fungi. Since 2010 we’ve owned a wood near Beckley (11 nest boxes, 6 feeders) and the photo shows me cooking up for a barbecue!

Did your career follow a similar trajectory?

I studied maths at Queen Mary College, London, and worked in computers in the early days before changing direction and moving to Bedford to join the late James Ferguson-Lees working on British Birds magazine, eventually becoming its editor. Since then I’ve been based in Rye and Norfolk and done all sorts of jobs, including seven years in the Civil Service (computers again) and many years as a freelance editor of science books and journals, as well as leading wildlife tours in Europe and beyond.

How did you come to be involved with the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve?

Me and my wife, Mary, moved to Rye in 1975 and immediately joined the Friends. We knew all the early wardens – Dave Flumm, Kelvin Cawte, Neil Pinder, Richard & Pam Knight – and welcomed Barry & Anne into our circle of friends when they arrived in 1984. I’ve done various jobs for them over the years and took over as Membership Secretary back in 2010, a role I'm still in and enjoy today. 

That's almost 50 years! Is it possible to name a highlight from those five decades? 

That's easy. It has to be helping to secure the funds to build the amazing Discovery Centre.

As we're about to head into 2025, do you have any hopes for next year?

I would love to see a two-storey hide with disabled access overlooking Castle Water, either at the Viewpoint (with proper parking) or in place of the ageing Halpin hide. More mundanely, perhaps, would be better paths from the Barns – one along the top of the bank to the sea, and the other directly to Castle Water, avoiding the long trek around Long Pit and through the woods.

What's your favourite part of the nature reserve?

Standing at the River Mouth at any stage of the tide – such sweeping views, so wild and remote, always with birds to look at.

And do you have a favourite species?

Golden Plover. They come each winter in their thousands from distant northern moorlands and always stir the imagination.

Tell us something about you that we might not already know. 

Most young people meet at parties or in pubs. I met Mary at an indoor meeting of the London Natural History Society. She was running the junior section of the Sussex Ornithological Society and was in her first term at Uni studying Geography. 

You can find out more about the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, and the work they do, here.