Interview with Kathy Crowther, Volunteer Coordinator at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

Emma Chaplin
, 16 June 2022
Interview with Kathy Crowther, Volunteer Coordinator at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
Kathy Crowther

Kathy Crowther

Volunteer Coordinator Rye Harbour Nature Reserve 

Tell us a bit about yourself

My background is in teaching, and I've worked with volunteers in different capacities. I was born in Hastings and now live very locally to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, at the western end, so the reserve is the hugest and most wonderful back garden. I've been visiting here since childhood - this was always our happy place, so we moved here. I enjoy the reserve for everything it offers. It's a privilege to live here and I feel a kind of custodianship for future generations. Getting this job means I can now support the volunteers who support the work of Sussex Wildlife Trust. I want to make sure that all our volunteers feel valued. 

It's been a family affair really because my husband used to be a volunteer with Barry Yates (Reserve Manager) and Chris Bentley (Reserve Warden). And my stepfather Ken Fellows used to be a Ranger on the reserve a very long time ago. He's not been so well and we brought him here to show him how the reserve looks now as well as the Discovery Centre. We had help from Barry and Chris, who were brilliant. He said his time volunteering here was one of his happiest ever times and how fantastic it feels to have contributed to the development of the reserve as such a conservation and community hub.

And your role at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve?

It's much bigger than it looks on paper! It's 17.5 hours per week and I usually work Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays, although I’m happy to be flexible as the role requires.

The Trust has incredibly skilled people volunteering here. It's a bit of matchmaking role between what people are good at and want to do, their niche if you like, and the needs of the reserve. I want to listen to the experience of our older volunteers and be approachable for our new ones. There is a lot of wisdom we can learn from our volunteers.

You learn so much about wildlife by just being around people here - there is so much knowledge.

What do you love about the area?

It's never static, there's always something going on and it's a constantly changing landscape. Not only across the seasons, but also with the weather or the time of day. Suddenly you'll see something you didn't anticipate, a spectacle of birds at lunchtime, or a rare sighting.

Tell us about the volunteers you've got and need

We've got over a hundred volunteers in different roles, in the Discovery Centre (welcome volunteers and café helpers), conservation tasks on the reserve, in the hides showing visitors what they're seeing, walk leaders, helping with our regular groups, as well as the many, varied events we put on here.

But we still need more! We'd welcome anyone getting in touch who thinks they might be able to help out.

If you're interested in finding out more, please get in touch by email [email protected] or phone 07485 906 003.

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1782992961.58550 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1782992961.62260.0371Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1782992961.62270.0001Server address: 216.73.217.103
1782992961.62270Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1782992961.62270Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/interview-with-kathy-crowther-volunteer-coordinator-at-rye-harbour-nature-reserve
    [s] => interview-with-kathy-crowther-volunteer-coordinator-at-rye-harbour-nature-reserve
    [1] => interview-with-kathy-crowther-volunteer-coordinator-at-rye-harbour-nature-reserve
)
1782992961.62310.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782992961.62440.0013 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1782992961.6270.0026 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1782992961.62770.0008INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1782992961.63120.0034 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22518966
1782992961.63220.001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22518966
1782992961.63640.0042 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-02 11:49:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-02 11:49:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1782992961.63810.0017 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='interview-with-kathy-crowther-volunteer-coordinator-at-rye-harbour-nature-reserve')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 11:49:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1782992961.64140.0033 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782992961.64230.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=2797 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 11:49:00'
1782992961.64360.0014 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1782992961.64450.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1782992961.64530.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=195 LIMIT 1
1782992961.64610.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=70 LIMIT 1
1782992961.64670.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=189 LIMIT 1
1782992961.64750.0008Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782992961.64780.0003 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1782992961.64890.0011 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 11:49:00' AND postSlug='interview-with-kathy-crowther-volunteer-coordinator-at-rye-harbour-nature-reserve'
1782992961.6720.0231Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782992961.67260.0006 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1782992961.67430.0016Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1782992961.67450.0003 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1782992961.67550.0009 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1782992961.67720.0017 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782992961.68070.0035 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782992961.68150.0008 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782992961.68390.0024Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1782992961.6840.0001 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782992961.68480.0008 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782992961.68530.0005 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782992961.68820.0029 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782992961.68940.0012 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782992961.69020.0009 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782992961.69390.0037 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782992961.69510.0012 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1782992961.69770.0025 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1782992961.69830.0006Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782992961.69870.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1782992961.69960.0009Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1782992961.70010.0005 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='interview-with-kathy-crowther-volunteer-coordinator-at-rye-harbour-nature-reserve')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 11:49:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1782992961.70250.0024 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782992961.70320.0007 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782992961.7070.0038Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1782992961.70820.0012 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=2797 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1782992961.76010.0519 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1782992961.76030.0002Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782992961.76050.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1782992961.76130.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1782992961.76630.0049 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1782992961.76730.001 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782992961.770.0027 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782992961.77070.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782992961.7730.0023 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782992961.77420.0012 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782992961.77490.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782992961.77540.0006 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782992961.77850.0031 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782992961.77910.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782992961.78140.0024 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782992961.78490.0035 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1782992961.7860.001 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1782992961.78660.0006 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782992961.7890.0024 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782992961.78960.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782992961.79170.002 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782992961.79450.0028 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782992961.79540.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782992961.79610.0007 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782992961.79850.0024 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782992961.79930.0008 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782992961.80150.0022 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782992961.80290.0014Request time: 0.2209
1782992961.80290Process time: 0.2207
1782992961.80290Memory: 1.6311