Who owns and runs Rye Harbour Nature Reserve?

Rye Harbour is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is also a Special Protection Area, and Special Area of Conservation, and a candidate RAMSAR site under the Convention of Wetlands of International Importance. There are 3 main areas:

AREA

1. Beach Reserve
2. Rye Harbour Farm
3. Castle Water
4. Castle Farm

OWNER

1. Environment Agency
2. Environment Agency
3. Sussex Wildlife Trust
4. Langrish Farmers

MANAGER

1. Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT)
2. SWT
3. SWT
4. LNR Management Agreement

NOTE: 1&2 are held by the SWTon a 50 year leases from 2011 under the LNR Management Agreement, which also covers Castle Water and Castle Farm. There are also numerous smaller private holdings in the SSSI, some of which subdivide the LNR, as well as Camber Castle which is owned by English Heritage.

It should be noted that while the Environment Agency’s first objective is to maintain sea defences, it also seeks to “maximise the environmental gain” (Yates, 2021:24) of areas such as Rye Harbour Farm. The Friends of Rye Harbour have (in my opinion) cleverly taken advantage of updates to the flood defences such as the building of a secondary sea wall to improve the LNR – for example by recreating the area of salt marsh near the new Discovery Centre, allowing visitors closer encounters with wildlife which encourages appreciation and support for conservation. There are over 200,000 visitors per year.

Management responsibilities of the LNR were transferred from ESCC to SWT in 2011. SWT is part of the Wildlife Trusts network in the UK. A committee structure is in place with representatives from a number of local bodies:

• East Sussex County Council
• Rother District Council
• Environment Agency
• Sussex Wildlife Trust
• Sussex Ornithological Society
• British Association for Shooting and Conservation
• Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
• Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
• Icklesham Parish Council
• Rye Town Council

It should be noted that there is a hierarchy of councils in England:

• County Council
  • District, Borough and City Councils
    • Parish, Community and Town Councils

The guidance from Natural England is that “local authorities can create local nature reserves (LNRs). Town and parish councils can create LNRs if the district council has given them the power to do this” (www.gov.uk) and there is a designation process associated with this.

A more complicated hierarchy leads to the designation of SSSIs, which “are designated in accordance with the duties in law placed upon each of the country nature conservation bodies (CNCBs) to notify as a SSSI any area of land which, in its opinion, is of special interest by reason of any of its flora, fauna, geological, geomorphological or physiographical features” (www.jncc.co.uk). Country nature conservation bodies also appear to be called Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies, but in any case are country-based within the UK – e.g. Natural England, brought together at meetings of the JNCC – Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The JNCC therefore has a coordinating role and is sponsored by DEFRA, as are the Environment Agency and Natural England. If this sounds confused, it probably is – there have been calls for the latter two to clarify their respective roles or to merge. Natural England is responsible for designating SSSIs, although it is the Environment Agency that owns much of the land at Rye Harbour and sits on the Management Committee (!)

The Nature Reserve Manager is Dr. Barry Yates, although he appears to be retiring. The Warden is Christopher Bentley, who also recently announced he is leaving. With both the key on-the-ground managers moving on, this could be seen as a significant threat at least to how the LNR is run. Nevertheless it should be remembered there is a committee structure in place to deal with this.

With the transfer to SWT, The Friends concentrate their efforts on fund raising and engagement with visitors (e.g. education, particularly of younger people) – see https://photo515050level3.wordpress.com/2022/10/10/rye-harbour-friends-agm/.

As part of my research (and also in order to support them) I have joined SWT as well as The Friends. SWT manage over 30 nature reserves and bring experience and scale to the task.

There are 3,540 species recorded in the LNR – a significant number of these are beatles, which apparently is a normal distribution. A large number of the species are considered local, notable, rare or endangered. I don’t intend to go into detail about these, but it should be noted that “most of the LNR is managed with wildlife as the priority” (Yates, 2021:41) – although this does of course involve natural habitat (re)generation. For example, the extinct Stinking Hawk’s-beard was introduced in 2000 as part of a Species Recovery Program. Habitats such as small islands have been built and protected to encourage nesting birds. Despite the number and biological importance of the numerous smaller species, it is actually the presence of rare birds (so called “banner species”) that gains the site many of its designated status protections.

“Little of the LNR is natural. It is the result of natural features modified by a range of land management including agriculture, flood defence work and shingle extraction.” (Yates, 2021:40)

This quote has become key to my thinking about the reserve, along with Yates’ longer-term acceptance that the LNR will eventually disappear back under the sea. The constructed natural raises many interesting themes for a photography project, including what is reality for us, the precession of simulacra and parallels with digital vs analogue debates. One way the quote could be used is as part of a “watermark” on a print – an image of the reserve overwritten with its management plan that suggests it’s true origin as a constructed scape. The first sentence – “Little of the LNR is natural” – could have the opacity increased slightly to a light grey to draw attention to the issue. Placing could also be key e.g. at one of the “rule of thirds” points as if it is the subject, and perhaps in a relatively calm area of the print such as the sky to give it space to make an impact.

As part of his presentation to The Friends AGM, Yates also used a slide having all the logos of the bodies associated with the reserve management. This might also make a suitable watermark to invoke the idea of management of natural space.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/ (Accessed 13.12.2022)
2. https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/ (Accessed 22.2.2023)
3. Yates, Dr. B (2021). Rye Harbour Nature Reserve Management Plan 2012-2021. At: https://dnu7gk7p9afoo.cloudfront.net/Files/management-plan-2012-2021-1.pdf (Accessed 13.12.2022)
4. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/create-and-manage-local-nature-reserves (Accessed 22.2.2023)
5. https://www.gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works (Accessed 22.2.2023)
6. https://jncc.gov.uk/our-work/guidelines-for-selection-of-sssis/ (Accessed 22.2.2023)