News

It’s been a particularly busy winter season with lots of activity and machinery on the beach.

There are two parts to the maintenance regime:

1. Restoring defences after storms – achieved by pushing shingle back up the beach or by short distance recycling using dumpers.
2. Trying to minimise the amount of shingle moving along the frontage, whilst collecting shingle from the eastern end of the frontage and moving it west so it can begin to gradually drift east once again.

We have had relatively few storms since winter. This has allowed us to move more shingle than usual from Cooden to Sovereign Harbour to ensure that shingle remains in the right locations. We have also had the dredger ‘Sospan Dau’ visit the harbour to recharge shingle onto the beach.

To watch the 'Sospan Dau' in action, see 'Videos' on the Project News page.

We have installed 3 gabion display units along Eastbourne seafront to share project information and to help increase community and visitor awareness of the scheme.

Our project posters have also been displayed in bus stops and community centres within the project area, and our logo can be seen on several lamppost banners in Eastbourne.

The success of this engagement will be evaluated by monitoring the number of visits to the website through the QR codes on the posters. This data will also help us to plan and shape how we communicate with stakeholders for future engagement events.

Have you seen our gabions, posters or banners around Eastbourne and Pevensey?

Please let us know with this short survey: Community awareness survey

We have a series of posters on display around the Pevensey and Eastbourne area to help raise awareness of the project – have you seen them yet?

Below is a summary of the collection of posters along with a summary of what they are all showing. If you have any questions please email us at pevenseyandeastbournecoast@environment-agency.gov.uk or contact us via the forum page.

Exploring how the coastline will change

This poster relates to the predicted sea level rise over the next 100 years due to climate change. We are facing a climate emergency as sea levels are predicted to rise by more than a metre over the next 100 years, along with an increase in the risk of coastal flooding and erosion. You can find out more about the possible solutions for the coastline here.

Historical coastline changes

This poster shows how the coastline from Pevensey Bay to Eastbourne would have looked in 340AD. This historic map was produced by Stuart Murrell, a local historian in 1980.

The current coastline is marked on the poster with a dashed line to show how the it has changed over the years. This change has been is gradual and is not seen on a day-to-day basis. With sea levels predicted to rise by at least 1 metre over the next 100 years, the coastline will constantly be changing.

Find out why the Pevensey Bay to Eastbourne Coastal Management Scheme is needed here.

Project Facts and Information

This poster includes some interesting facts that relate to the Pevensey Bay to Eastbourne Coastal Management Scheme.

You can find more out about the scheme by visiting the different sections of our website.

Share your photos

The coastline is constantly changing. It can be difficult to see the changes on a daily basis as they are gradual. One way of seeing how the landscape has changed over time can be from looking at old maps and photos of an area. As part of this scheme, we are inviting you to send us your photos of the coastline from Pevensey Bay through to Eastbourne. This will help us to create a clearer picture of what the coastline previously looked like and see how it has changed over time.

Email your photos to us at pevenseyandeastbournecoast@environment-agency.gov.uk or post them to Instagram using #PevEbCoast

In December, we held a workshop with more than 60 students from 8 secondary schools from the Coastal Schools Partnership (CSP) in East Sussex.

The students learned about the scheme, today’s coastal challenges and took part in a flood risk planning activity, where they considered all possible options to decide which solution would be best for their zone.

Parents were then welcomed to the workshop, allowing the students to discuss the activity and their choices with them.

Our post-workshop survey showed that 100% of respondents felt they better understood the impact of rising sea levels and how we can protect against this.

You can view our CSP post workshop summary report by clicking here: CSP Report

A Local Authority Steering Group has been created to work alongside the Pevensey Bay to Eastbourne coastal management scheme. Representatives from Rother District Council, Wealden District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council met with the Environment Agency for the first meeting in November 2022. A copy of the notes from this meeting can be accessed using the link to the right.

Divers are aquatic birds the size of a small goose. They are named after their habit of diving to feed on small fish and can spend up to a minute submerged. In the UK they are a scarce breeding bird in NW Scotland, and in Canada and North America they are known as ‘loons’, due to their eerie wailing cries. In the breeding season, divers have either black or red patches on their necks, and speckled backs, but in winter turn a plainer grey above and silvery white below.

During the winter of 2021-22 a team of ecologists working for the Pevensey to Eastbourne Coastal Management Scheme carried out a survey of wintering birds along the coastline, with counts carried out at low and high tides. Two species of diver were observed – the larger Great Northern Diver (73-88 cm from bill tip to tail tip) and the smaller Red-throated Diver (63-75 cm).

A single Great Northern Diver was seen in December and February, where it frequented the outer part of Sovereign Harbour, and was believed to be the same individual each time. Local records suggest that this bird overwintered in the same location. In Sussex the Great Northern Diver is a scarce winter visitor and passage migrant (Sussex Bird Report, 2020).

Photo: Great Northern Diver in breeding plumage (birdspot.co.uk)Red-throated Divers were seen during many of the monthly survey visits throughout the period. Peak counts were 27 on 19 January (high tide) and 19 on 26 January (low tide). All records were of birds offshore, either sitting on the sea, or flying past. In Sussex the Red-throated Diver is a fairly common winter visitor and passage migrant (Sussex Bird Report, 2020).

Photo: Red-throated Diver in winter plumage (www.wildlifeinsight.com)

Both species of diver are specially protected by their inclusion on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act (1981).