David

Views out from the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, taken with a lens at a very high telephoto setting. At the eastern end of Rye Bay, Dungeness Head with the dominating presence of the nuclear power station. To the west, a steep cliff somewhere approaching Hastings. It was a long way away, and the high magnification has given the picture an impressionist effect: no filters. Between the two, the River Rother meets the sea.

Another oystercatcher feeding alongside what is presumably its chick in one of the nearer pools at the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. This chick, clearly older and grown almost to full size, is the one closer to us in those shots where two birds are present.

Plants growing above the high tide mark on beach shingle form a specialised and quite restricted community. Here at the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve these was quite a lot of sea kale, some of it in flower when we were visiting.

Another wader with a very young chick by one of the pools at the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. This time it’s an avocet. Somewhere along in the picture sequence, a black headed gull and a second avocet make brief appearances.

A few days ago, I posted a picture of a purple salsify flowering in a Canterbury garden. Here are the same flowers, growing wild on one of the grassy banks in the Rye harbour Nature Reserve.

The Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. An oystercatcher walking around one of the pools, probing the edge of the water for food. Its young chick was following behind, copying its example, as an avocet was doing much the same on the opposite shore.