Friends’ AGM and changing landscapes

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On Saturday, October 8 the AGM and Friends’ Day at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve took place at the Discovery Centre. Cliff Dean, chair of the friends’, described the occasion: “Saturday was so busy! First, a group of birders joined James and me for a walk in the most beautiful, brilliant October light where one of the first things we saw was a group of four spoonbills on the new saltmarsh.

“Spoonbills used to be rare birds but have become more frequent in recent years and this autumn have been seen almost every week – and not just in ones or twos but small flocks too! While some of these could originate from an increasing British breeding population, a couple of previous colour-ringed birds with telescope-readable numbers were hatched on Vlieland in the Waddensee.

“Swallows, house martins and meadow pipits were streaming overhead in hundreds, with calls coming from skylarks, linnets, goldfinches also heading south. Kingfishers are also getting easier to see; there was one perching on posts in the Salt Pool but another was racing about in front of the Discovery Centre. Huge, honking waves of feral greylag and Canada geese arrived from Scotney pits and we had great views of other, truly wild, wildfowl, especially wigeon, as well as several species of wader. Altogether, we saw fifty-seven species.”

At 11am it was time for centre manager, Gesine Garz, to draw October’s winners in the 833 Lottery with prizes totalling more than £130. The 833 is now directing its funds at support of the brilliant educational initiatives undertaken by Sussex Wildlife Trust staff, those who benefit ranging from tiny children in the nature babies group upwards.

There followed a few hours of meeting up with visitors, including a coachload of RSPB members from Hertfordshire, friends, Friends and Friends’ committee members and preparing for the AGM at 2pm.

Cliff continued: “This was our very first “live” AGM in the Discovery Centre since last year’s, in the shadow of Covid, was held via Zoom. Since then, we’ve held a couple of winter indoor meetings with brilliant speakers but small, if very appreciative, audiences, so we didn’t know how many members to expect for the AGM. In the event, we were delighted to see a return to the kind of attendance we used to get at Winchelsea Beach before the Discovery Centre was opened, with over fifty people in the audience.”

The main messages were: membership, at 2,100+, is now the biggest it’s ever been, 120 having joined since April; our finances are very healthy, thanks to all those subscriptions plus donations and legacies, allowing us generously to support Sussex Wildlife Trust staffing costs and assist reserve management tasks.

Cliff continued: “And for just over a year, we have had the most beautiful, award-winning Discovery Centre, with wonderful views out over the reserve and delicious refreshments from the excellent Lime Kiln Café. This has all come about as the result of creative co-operation between Sussex Wildlife Trust and the friends, led by a committee of a dozen most able and dedicated volunteers.”

After the AGM the audience was able to enjoy a new talk, “Transforming Landscapes”, by Barry Yates, the nature reserve’s manager, which charted the transition of the nature reserve, under his thirty-nine years of stewardship, from post-industrial and arable terrain to the remarkably bio-diverse range of habitats we see today.

Interventions ranged from hand-building islands using wobbly rafts up to massive earth-shifting machines, from putting sheep in, keeping rabbits out, replacing invasive plants with native ones and introducing tiny, tiny mites to reduce alien, water-clogging swampweed. Barry’s incomparable photo archive provided the visual record of the transformations affected during his time here.

The AGM ended with a sense of great and continuing achievement with Barry at the helm ably assisted by a dedicated, enthusiastic team which makes all this possible.

On display and for sale were the creations of the Wednesday Craft group. Anne Yates runs this and everyone has a lovely time chatting and creating in the beautiful centre.

Contact Anne direct if you would like to know more, they take place on Wednesdays from 1:30pm to 3:30pm. Aey@live.co.uk / 07432 092 937.

Image Credits: Kt bruce .

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