Rye Meads

To ensure our longer-term sustainability, the RSPB has been reviewing its operations across the UK so that everything we do aligns to our charitable and strategic aims and delivers the most impact for nature possible, within the resource we have. We focus on what we do best and where we can do this most effectively, with the resources available to us.  

Our most recent challenge has been the global and domestic financial…

If August was the month of the Kingfisher, September is the month shared by 2 species. In the first half of the month it was the Common Sandpiper as there was one seen on the reserve almost every day. The second half belonged to the Snipe that were always showing very well at the Draper hide.

We have been lucky over September to be treated to some ‘mini murmurations’ from some Starlings that often gather on the pylon…

Birds and the long-awaited return

It’s been a while since we’ve given an update on the recent sightings on the reserve, so we felt it was time to share what’s been seen. August has been a very busy month due to the summer holidays bringing in lots of families taking part in the activities and events. We’ve also seen a few species dropping in with a fan favourite making its long-awaited return……

Yesterday was our last ‘Big Wild’ event of the year with our Big Wild Pyjama Party, and we made sure we went out with a metaphorical bang!

Starting at 6.30pm, everyone was present and ready to go promptly, which was great because we had a lot to pack in. We started with a few crafts in the classroom, with drawing being very popular, while we waited for everyone to get here and get prepared. Then after a quick…

Today saw our second Up Close with the Birds of Rye Meads event and we were truly spoilt. We started with a Sedge Warbler and Alan from the Rye Meads Ringing Group talked about the difference between a Sedge and Reed Warbler’s strategy for migration (luckily we also saw a Reed Warbler or two so we could see the difference). The Sedge Warbler takes more of a ‘eat now and get there as soon as possible’ approach to feeding…

Our 9^th August Big Wild Sleepout saw 14 participants join the team for our last Sleepout of the year, and what a way to finish it up!

We started the evening like every other camping trip, battling with tents and poles until they resembled a tent – a home away from home if you will. Once we were all set up and had our ‘homes’ built, we went to the Visitor Centre for a bit of light arts and crafting, drawing was the main…

It looks like the Kingfishers are giving us another interesting year here at Rye Meads!

Last year we had one pair on site based at the Kingfisher Hub, all looked good at the start of the year with a pair around from February. But in coming months we sadly lost two adult females and lastly the adult male, he managed to fledge a single brood between females and was in preparation for a second brood with another new female…

Photo by Matt Wilkinson (http://rspb-images.com)

We're really excited to offer a range of events this Easter Holidays!

Bring the whole family down for our Spring Trail and Pond Dipping information below (don't forget to grab yourself a coffee or an ice cream!)

Take part in pond dipping and discover the creatures lurking in the hidden depths of the waters - from the tiny water flea to the mighty dragonfly nymph…

We are so lucky that two water voles are once again calling the Draper pond their home. If you are patient and quiet you may see one.
Have a look around the pond for the water voles favourite spots, marked by latrines (piles of poo) or feeding sites (piles of nibbled fresh green vegetation), find a good spot and wait. If you are lucky keep your movements slow and noise low, so you don't spook them. The water is so clear…

It’s that time of year again, the Kingfisher breeding season will soon be here!

I can honestly say I can’t remember a breeding season like last year! One for the books. The loss of two females kept things interesting but the loss of the male ended the season for us, very abruptly.

The return of the established pair from 2022 meant activity started very early in February 2023 with the pair investigating the…

Nature is for Everyone!

This year, the Schools on Reserves team at RSPB Rye Meads has had the pleasure of welcoming a class of teenage special needs students, from local school Amwell View. The students spent a few hours over 4 weeks at the nature reserve, learning how to pond dip and how to identify pond animals. In the final week, the group then showed a younger class from the same school how it’s done! It was brilliant…

Hopefully a full sightings blog for June will be available soon - in the meantime here's a couple of updates, first about Kingfishers at the reserve, and then the main feature, a piece from Roving Volunteer Colin, summarising his thoughts on the status of Warblers in the Spring at Rye Meads.

After an almost perfect year for kingfishers in 2022, with three broods at the Kingfisher Hub and two at…

May on the Reserve

A few people to thank this month – Mel for his usual mutterings which flesh out a bit of variety in these blogs, our monitoring volunteer Nick for his thorough counts of birds and butterflies, and reserve volunteer Millie for collating photos from the Friends of RSPB Rye Meads group for this month. Plus of course, everyone who logs their sightings with us in the Visitor Centre!

Plenty of positives…

April on the Reserve

April is always a good month for some brief and unusual arrivals as birds stop over on migration, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. 23 bird species were seen here for the first time in 2023 (and one for the first time ever!). A fair few of these were flyovers, so its always worth making sure you’re looking in the sky as you walk between hides, and others were here for just a few hours so well done…

March on the Reserve

Spring has definitely sprung, although my final memories of March are of going through three sets of clothes putting all of our Easter activities out in the rain and mud…

Regardless, we’re calling is Spring – blackthorn is in blossom, there’s daffodils around, and we’ve had our first butterflies of the year (Peacock and Brimstone). Before we get to the birds, we’ve also had a stoat make an…

Day to day operations at RSPB Rye Meads are run by two full-time and one part-time member of staff to keep the doors open 7 days a week from 9am-5pm. It therefore relies heavily on a brilliant team of volunteers - 79 of them in the last year! One of our more recent recruits, Colin, has been with us every Monday in our 'Roving' volunteer role, heading out onto the reserve as a friendly point of contact for our visitors.…

Over the last few months there's been a bit of a buzz around several visitors to Rye Meads (of the avian variety, although I'm sure some of you create a buzz too).

One of those species is the Bearded Tits: first spotted in October, we've had peaks and troughs of sightings in various parts of the reserve all the way to March.

Like most species that have visited Rye Meads, Bearded Tits have been tracked and…

Its a bit odd to write this looking out of the window at snow, but its been an unusually mild February, particularly during Half Term. Its been another bumper month for major sightings, with our highlights from January sticking around and being joined by some other firsts for 2023. Water levels at Draper stayed relatively high for the month but we did bring them down at Gadwall. Both are now reducing…

The start of a new calendar year is always a busy time for us here at Rye Meads, with the slate wiped clean and our annual sightings log reset to zero! But the year has started brilliantly with some major highlights for us, as early as New Year's Day.

We're also recruiting volunteers to a variety of roles at the reserve, so if you have any time to spare, however small, do check out volunteer.rspb.org.uk to find…

Rye Meads News

Those of you who visited or read the November blog will have heard about our concerns about the potential for Avian Flu. The good news for us is that there was no further suspicious bird behaviour in December and no bird fatalities beyond the handful to be expected in winter or via predation. Unfortunately though, avian flu remains a huge concern in the wider region and nationally, so please do remain vigilant…

As we're finally getting some winter weather, we're into the time of year of a lot of habitat management on the reserve. Regular visitors may have seen the floating reed cutter out on the Draper and Gadwall lagoons at the start of the month, as well as contractor machinery clearing some of the scrub along the paths. We're very grateful to a generous donation from the South East Herts RSPB Local Group for…

October’s been an interesting month! At times we’ve finally had the rainfall we desperately needed, but in general its been incredibly mild. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been able to do some large scale habitat management, cutting back much of the scrub along the paths and on the Draper scrape, both with a contractor and our excellent volunteer work parties. That possibly combined to lead to some different species…

This month has come and gone in a blur it seems! Hot weather continued for a while but we are now seeing the signs of the changing seasons as our summer species reduce in numbers. Habitat management work is also picking up with the Wildlife Trust doing plenty of work in the meadow, and our volunteer work party tackling some of the vegetation at the Draper and Gadwall Hides. We've also had a major sighting for us at the…