Rye Harbour Nature Reserve sightings February 2026

By David Bentley

Early indications from the Met Office suggest that the 2025/26 winter has been somewhat wetter than average in the Rye area, but not by as much as some areas in south-west England. We have seen significantly less sunshine than we might expect and the trend towards milder winters seems to continue.

This February was generally very mild with many days of rain or showers. Without a late winter cold-snap, birding at this time of year can be quite slow, but at Rye Harbour there is always plenty to see.

One of the joys of February is the build up of Avocet numbers on the reserve in anticipation of the breeding season. There were around four at the start of the month, ten by 17th and 58 by 25th. Initially the Avocets tend to flock together, often splitting their time between Flat Beach and the River Rother around Northpoint. After a while they will spread out over all of the reserve's lagoons and shallow pits.

Up to five Brent Geese have been present for most of the month, generally feeding by the river mouth, but sometimes on Flat Beach. They've often been quite close, allowing lovely views of what has to be a candidate for our most handsome goose.

There were some good duck counts at Castle Water on 16th, including 134 Shoveler, 165 Gadwall and 62 Tufted Duck.

The red-head Red-breasted Merganser was still present until at least 8th.

Slavonian Grebes are seen more or less annually on the reserve. The first of the winter was seen at the north-east end of Long Pit on 24th. Slavonian Grebes are similar to Black-necked Grebes, which are a somewhat more common visitor to the reserve. The former, slightly larger bird has a gently-sloping head, with a peak at the back, whereas the latter has a steeply-sloping head with a peak in the middle, forming a 'police-officer's-helmet' shape.

There was a very interesting and significant agglomeration of 500+ Common Gull on Flat Beach on 26th.

An unconfirmed sighting of a Common Tern on Flat Beach on 24th would be an exceptionally early bird!

A female Brambling in with the cattle at Castle Farm on 12th was a nice record. The same area has held up to eight Cattle Egrets for most of the month.

At least two Dartford Warblers were at 'the usual spot' between the New Saltmarsh and Salt Pool on 24th and another, possibly different bird was by Parkes Hide on 27th.

Sweet Violets came in to flower at Castle Water at the start of the month, pointing us optimistically towards spring.