Jeff Penfold has been visiting the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve for about six years, after developing a specific interest in wildlife photography.
Last week on Wednesday, August 30, he was excited to spot an unusual visitor to the reserve – an osprey. Jeff said one was spotted in 2012 and another again briefly in 2022. Ospreys have made a welcome comeback from near extinction and today there are 270 pairs in Scotland, England and Wales.
Jeff explains: “I took up photography as a hobby when I retired as a building surveyor and facility manager at the end of 2014. Over the years I have made several connections with local organisations involved in running and managing events including a couple of local charities. I also work closely with the Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Tourism offering my services free of charge or in exchange for donations to one of the charities that I now represent as a committee member. This is Charity for Kids, formed in 2011 to provide specialist equipment and support to local kids with disabilities, life-limiting and terminal conditions. The charity covers Hastings and the whole of the Rother District including Rye. I also volunteer my services to another local registered charity, Warming up the Homeless.
“As part of the fund-raising for Charity for Kids I have been producing various calendars, including one entitled ‘Nature’s Best’, full of local photos of wildlife. In addition I have also produced for 2024 a Bexhill calendar and one entitled ‘Sun, Sea and Skies’.
“Rye Harbour is one of my favourite places to visit throughout the seasons as it offers so much variety and some surprises such as the osprey this year. In previous years I have witnessed and photographed other delightful visitors such as spoonbills.
“The Nature’s Best and Sun, Sea & Skies calendars are now on sale at Tea Beside the Orchard near Icklesham and will shortly be in the Bosun’s Bite in Rye Harbour. All of the money raised goes directly to help the kids as the charity is run entirely by volunteers.”
Paul Cherry has also been photographing the osprey, and sent us the following photographs.
Image Credits: Jeff Penfold , Paul Cherry .
Amazing photos of a magnificent Bird.
Great photos, many thanks to Jeff and Paul. The recent news that one in six of Britain’s (already depleted) animal and plant species are in danger of extinction is tragic. Urgent efforts need to be made to restore the natural environment and habitats so that we save precious creatures like the osprey for future generations. To do this, there must be an end to constant population growth and little or no new wholesale housing development in the south east of the UK, which is already bursting at the seams. The few natural places left in Sussex should be protected, not opened up for development. There is no shortage of housing in Rother, simply the wrong type. You have single elderly people or retired couples living in roomy four-bedroom properties while young families cannot afford to purchase a house. Older folk often wish to downsize, but smaller properties are frequently unavailable as developers build larger houses to maximise their profit. A continued focus on economic growth and greater population when resources are finite spells disaster for the UK’s natural environment. What’s needed is intelligent, environmentally sustainable progress, focusing on quality of life rather than on consumerism, materialism and the creed of greed. You can’t take ‘stuff’ with you when you shuffle off this mortal coil and join the choir invisible. Head down to Rye Harbour and look at the birds rather than buying that £1,000 mobile phone you don’t need.