News

Waxwings

1 January 2024 - December 2023 saw a group of Waxwings visiting the Park to sample the berries. Several hundred visit Britain each winter.

Squacco Heron

16 May 2023 - Two rare herons have been found in the valley recently. The Squacco Heron and the Black-crowned Night Heron visiting us are well out of their usual summer haunts.

Whooper Swan

30 November 2022 - This year our usual winter-visiting wildfowl have been joined by a Whooper Swan. This unusual visitor to the park was last recorded here 12 years ago.

Audio tracks

17 November 2022 - The Friends of Combe Valley have commissioned a series of audio tracks which will eventually form the basis of a set of soundwalks in the Park.

Rare Spider Found

13 July 2022 - The rare Fen Raft Spider, has recently been found in the Park; a very important discovery

Butterfly season

12 July 2022 - Lots of butterflies are now appearing in the Park and recently there have been sightings of some less common species

'Recovering Combe Valley'

12 April 2022 - A new project 'Recovering Combe Valley' has received support from DEFRA and the National Lottery Heritage Fund

Black-tailed Godwit

7 April 2022 - This unusual wader was spotted today visiting the Park, probably just stopping off for a break in its journey.

1066 Path Improvements

20 November 2021 - About 20 volunteers, mostly from the Friends of Combe Valley and a few from Crowhurst Environmental Group, gathered today to improve the access along the 1066 path

Glossy Ibis visits the Park

4 November 2021 - Earlier this week a Glossy Ibis was seen on the flood meadows in the Park. Resembling a dark coloured Curlew

Bridge Replacements

7 October 2021 - East Sussex County Council have recently been doing work to replace some of the bridges in the Park which were suffering from rot

Furniture Maintenance

10 November 2020 - Rother District Council, who own the disused railway line, have been doing some repairs to the picnic tables, seats and steps.

Willow Emeralds

12 September 2020 - Emerald Damselflies are fairly rare and hardly ever seen in the Countryside Park. However, this week two have been spotted in different parts of the park

Keeping the Park beautiful

19 July 2020 - Please help to keep the Park a woderful place to visit by respecting the country code, keeping to paths and taking all your litter home.

Reedbed Fire

1 June 2020 - Yesterday, 31 May, there was a fire in part of the reedbeds, which destroyed a whole area of reeds in which many birds were nesting.

White Stork

22 February 2020 - This week we have been fortunate that a White Stork has been seen in the valley and it seems to have taken up temporary residence.

Coastal Birds in Winter

2 December 2018 - Now that winter is approaching there are different birds to be seen along the coast. Although many of the birds can be seen all year some of them are far more common during the winter months.

Ivy Bees

19 September 2018 - If you walk along the path below the cliffs at Galley Hill at the moment, you can hardly fail to see Ivy Bees, as there are thousands flying around close to the ground.

Bladderwort in the valley

16 July 2018 - The valley is home to many different plants some of which are nationally scarce. One of these is Bladderwort, a carniverous plant which only occurs in slow-moving ditches or ponds.

Wild Flowers in bloom

12 July 2018 - The valley is looking very colourful now that summer is here and lots of the wild plants are flowering.

Springtime Butterflies

24 April 2018 - Now that the weather has warmed up (a little) there are beginning to be more butterflies around. Peacock and Comma have been seen in the valley for some months

Courtship time

11 February 2018 - As spring approaches the wildlife in the valley starts to think about reproducing. A couple of female Mute Swans were minding their own business on one of the pools when in flew a male with other ideas.

Winter Visitors

30 November 2017 - The Combe Valley plays host to a number of over-wintering birds each year and some of these are beginning to appear now. These are birds that usually live further north

Here be Dragons

27 June 2017 - A number of different dragonfly species can now be seen around the valley. One of the most striking is the Broad-bodied Chaser with its distinctive wing markings.

Sea Kale on the Beach

24 May 2017 - The section of beach between Galley Hill and Glyne Gap has a magnificent display of Sea Kale in flower at the moment. This is an important plant as its long roots, necessary to find fresh water, help to stabilise the shingle.

Footpaths - 1 January

The valley is still flooded and all paths across the lower part of the valley are impassable, as is most of the path along the river.

Report overgrown rights of way to East Sussex and other paths to the Friends of Combe Valley.

Latest News

Waxwings

December 2023 saw a group of Waxwings visiting the Park to sample the berries. Several hundred visit Britain each winter.

New on this website

August 2023 - a set of new pages describing some of the more common flowering plants has been added to the "Wildlife" section of the site.