Wild… …life
Dr Barry Yates never switches off; every minute or so, he spotted and pointed out any exciting bit of wildlife that entered his line of vision.
Dr Barry Yates, Rye Harbour Road, Rye Harbour, Rye TN31 7FW.
Tell us the journey that you’ve taken through your career so far?
Barry. At school, an influential biology teacher was the first to suggest that university was an option, which I did. So I studied Zoology at university; to be honest, I didn’t know where that was leading. Running parallel with the course, I trained to catch and ring birds in my spare time. That led me to study for a PhD in Liverpool on the Ribble Estuary’s saltmarsh, which gave me the experience of studying a wading bird, the Redshank. Then on to research contracts for the RSPB in Sutherland and Shetland, also studying wading birds. Then we were all lined up to do another research contract studying the Redshank on the North Kent marshes, when out of the blue came this job, a wardening job. During my research years, I worked closely with people managing land for wildlife, and I fancied that way of life. The Rye Harbour Nature Reserve position landed on my lap, the Reserve was small, and I had no experience. Somehow they gave me the job and the RHNR and I have grown over 37 years.
There is an Egret, looking for somewhere to land!
As we are talking, my son, who grew up here, is just about to start managing another lovely nature reserve in Suffolk. And he knows nothing else other than living on a nature reserve and working any time as required. Of my children, he is the one that’s most like me. He’s found a job that he can make his own. I could never do a mundane job; I admire people who can do the same thing day in and day out. But at least they know when to start and finish their working day. Whereas when you have a job that is a way of life and live on-site, you have to get your head right to cope with it. Waking up in the morning, you have a plan of what might happen during the day.
The Redshank is a wading bird, about the same size as a Starling but with long bright red legs, and it breeds on saltmarshes. I spent three years finding their nests and ringing their chicks and the adults, weighing them and measuring them. I wrote a thesis about that, which was deemed suitable enough to earn me the title of doctor. That probably influenced the people interviewing me!
We have seen 13 seals recently; the numbers have been building up for the last couple of months. But, look, there is one bobbing around just the other side!
This nature reserve has seven species of wading birds that nest here, and we have a bird with ridiculously long legs, called a Black-winged Stilt, that has nested here for the first time this year. They are very rare in Britain, and it was all very exciting to see. 101 species of birds nest here in Rye Harbour, and to be honest, I can’t believe how many birds can nest in one location. But we work hard to provide the habitats and protection from disturbance.
Most of my work is about managing habitats. Because the habitats are unusual, they will attract unusual wildlife. So the Black-winged Stilt is obviously on a mission to spread North, like the Egret that we just saw - 30 years ago, they were unknown here. Now they’re here in large numbers, and they’re nesting here. Some of that could be climate change, but a lot of it is about that bird’s ability to explore new areas and colonise. There’s a good series of wetland nature reserves that are stepping stones through Spain and France and into Britain. The Egrets are doing well now, whereas many farmland and grassland birds have declined dramatically and are struggling.
There’s a Kingfisher just going down there. I’ve got the eyes of a hunter. I’ve spent 50 years looking at wildlife; you become trained at spotting everything. It’s about being observant. I get annoyed now as I’m juggling three pairs of glasses, but some people have been doing that all their lives.
Look, that was a massive animal. I think it must’ve been a seal. It just almost leapt out of the water. That’s a Grey Seal; they have a very long flat nose. It’s very unusual for Grey Seals to come into the river, usually, it’s the Common or Harbour Seal we see here. I should sit here more often; this is fantastic!
“The Rye Harbour Nature Reserve is a perfect place for people to come to get a wildlife experience. It is a fascinating place, and its wildlife is just one layer.”
What changes have you seen over your 37 years here at the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve?
Barry. Society has changed; it was a bit of an odd job to have when I first started here. Generally, I’m not sure people understood what a nature reserve was and what we were trying to achieve. Since then, the Reserve has become larger, we’ve kept most of the rare species that were here back then, and we’ve enabled other rare things to colonise. The nature reserve has improved its wildlife habitats, and the facilities for people and the reserve’s support has increased. Now I think most people understand that you need to have good wildlife and wild places for people’s wellbeing. If people can’t see the wildlife and don’t appreciate it, we will fight a losing environmental battle. You can’t beat being out in the elements, seeing something in the flesh, or finding something for yourself. There can be fantastic wildlife within minutes from your doorstep or on your window sills. You can take a walk through the seasons and then suddenly realise your place in the world.
Thirty years ago, nature reserves and looking at wildlife was quite an eccentric interest. I think society has changed; I would imagine that many people don’t care much about their environment, and some of that is because they’re struggling in their day-to-day lives. It’s been a real privilege to live here and work here; obviously, it is not me on my own; it’s been several organisations, lots of individuals. I’ve had enormous support from my family to do this and fantastic support for this nature reserve from The Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Very little of what we’ve achieved would have happened without The Friends being there, growing, and having ambition. The Friends are a charity, there have been volunteers, some of whom have been almost full-time staff at times, and they’ve enjoyed it. And people tend to get involved and stay involved for many years. So it’s a large number of people that have made a difference here. It’s not all about finance; it is about being supportive and helping.
The Sussex Wildlife Trust had managed the reserve since 2011 when it took on the responsibilities from East Sussex County Council. Since the Discovery Centre has been open, especially over the last couple of months, it has been incredibly rewarding to see the increase in educational activities. When I first came here, it was just volunteers and me, so we had very few school visits. I’d take classes for a walk and see some plants and animals. We now have a classroom which is a backup if the weather should be bad; we’ve got the welfare facilities that schools expect. We’ve always invited school groups here, and we involve various youth groups for the whole time of the nature reserve, but we can now plan more valuable experiences here. The Discovery Centre wasn’t designed to attract more people, it was created to service the existing large number of visitors, but it’s amazing how numbers have increased. So we want to give our current visitors a better experience. It is rewarding to see how many more wheelchair users are coming here; improving accessibility was part of our hopes.
The weather is the most significant influence on the wildlife and the work you can do with the wildlife and how people can enjoy the area. I’m forever looking at my Rain Alarm app, to have instant access makes life a lot easier. It is being aware of the weather, being out in the weather, and capturing the weather on video and still photography. It’s hard for me to think that people could spend their lives not being aware of the weather.
You are continually learning about wildlife and being surprised by things. There are many ways of discovering more about wildlife, social media, some fantastic websites, and some people who are really generous with their time and knowledgeable about new areas of interest. We are gaining species; we’re losing species; there is constant change. And one of the projects in our Heritage Fund project is taking people that are already interested in wildlife and getting them to take the next step to become more focused. Instead of just looking at wildlife, start a nature diary, count things through a year. To make the time that they spend with wildlife more interesting for them and more valuable for everyone.
The space is open to all, and we want to be inclusive. So I get rewards just seeing people enjoying the place and the wildlife and just individuals being out here and respecting; it also gives some measure of protection that might deter those who don’t respect the Reserve.
Last night, an Osprey was seen trying to catch fish in a large gravel pit. I saw it from my back garden; when I started birdwatching, an Osprey was incredibly rare; the only way to see one would be to go to Scotland and go into the RSPBs hide at Loch Garten Nature Reserve and see about a mile range. So that record will get submitted to the Sussex Ornithological Society and be recorded in their annual report. So you can flick back through the 50 years of records and see that some species are increasing and that not everything is declining. So nature is very robust given half a chance. But, unfortunately, nature is not being given much of a chance with the scale of the destruction of habitat.
The climate message may be the key for politicians to get people to change their ways.
Recording wildlife, noting down the plants and animals that you see here is really important. It’s a justification for the effort that we put in. We’ve got four and a half thousand plants and animals that live here, but we put most of our effort into protecting the 300 rare and endangered species. Everything else can look after itself. So monitoring the progress of those as best we can is critical. It’s a significant undertaking in trying to do the very best for wildlife while at the same time trying to provide the facilities and the wildlife experience for so many different people.
“It’s a great place to come and leave everything behind, relax, watch the clouds go by, watch the seals frolicking in the sea and ponder on the universe.”
Can you tell us about any of your discoveries here at the nature reserve?
Barry. Last August, a butterfly landed in my garden; I didn’t see it, my colleague Chris saw it. I told my neighbour, who said “I saw that in our garden as well”. She had taken a few photographs of this butterfly on her fennel. It turned out it was a Swallowtail butterfly that had flown from France and was now laying eggs in her garden. We found nine eggs, so I spent all of last August raising these tiny caterpillars, amazed at how they hatched and how they grew and changed. I’d studied entomology at university, and I was still amazed by this. Then they all turned into chrysalises out in the shed, and then it all happened again this June. You’ve got this tiny mass of a chrysalis, then all of a sudden it just went, boom, and you had this fantastic Swallowtail butterfly. It was impossible to do it justice with photographs or video, but my swallowtail diary on the Sussex Wildlife Trust website gives its essence.
“Last winter, I spent a lot of early mornings on the beach trying to capture images of sunrises with time-lapse, and it’s a spiritual experience; it makes you realise just how insignificant we are.”
To findout more please visit:
www.rye.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk
www.rhnrfriends.co.uk
Lime Kiln Café - Discovery Centre
The café is open daily from
10am to 4pm
Rye Harbour Discovery Centre
Rye Harbour Road, Rye Harbour
Rye TN31 7FW
Call. 01797 360960
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