With the arrival of spring weather at Rye Harbour I have been out and about looking for a couple of rare bee species, and yesterday I managed to find one!

March produced the first booming bittern of the year, with a single male heard regularly at Castle Water from the 12th.

A good deal of my time over the last five years has been spent monitoring the invertebrates on the new saltmarsh and shingle habitats at Rye Harbour…

One sign of the approaching spring is the appearance of cream-spot tiger caterpillars on the reserve.

Highlight during January was a Lapland bunting which was present on Harbour Farm on the 28th.

Bring your little ones on an outdoor adventure with Sussex Wildlife Trust’s fun weekly woodland activity sessions starting in March. Nature Tots is suitable for accompanied children aged 3-5.

Golden plover has become something of a feature of the reserve in the last 10 years, with large flocks frequenting Flat Beach Level in particular during the winter.

Whole year Sunshine 1948.1 hours (1761.0) Mean maximum temp. 14.7 C (13.4) Mean minimum temp. 8.8 C (7.5) Rainfall 879.8 mm. (740.2) Gale or stronger 21 days (10.7)

Burn off some of those festive calories with Sussex Wildlife Trust’s free birdwatching walk at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve on Friday 1 January from 10:00 to 12:30

Big flocks of birds doing spectacular aerial displays is always a wonder to behold; try and get out and see in Sussex this winter is the mass of golden plover down at Rye Harbour nature reserve