Cuckmere Haven
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Cuckmere Haven (also known as the Cuckmere Estuary) is an area of flood plains in Sussex, England where the river Cuckmere meets the English Channel between Eastbourne and Seaford. The river is an example of a meandering river, and contains several oxbow lakes. It is a popular tourist destination with an estimated 350,000 visitors per year, where they can engage in long walks, or water activities on the river. The beach at Cuckmere Haven is next to the famous chalk cliffs, the Seven Sisters.
At low tide, one can spot ironwork in the sea close to the river mouth. This is the wreck of the Polynesia, a German sailing ship, which ran aground west of Beachy Head, laden with a cargo of sodium nitrate, during April 1890.
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[edit] History
The beach was commonly used by smugglers in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. For example, in 1783 two gangs of smugglers (each numbering 200 or 300) overcame officers of the law by weight of numbers and carried away a large quantity of goods.
In the Second World War the site was subject to significant attention from the Luftwaffe as they flew missions to identify potential landing sites for the invasion of the UK mainland. As a result a series of counter-landing constructions remains, including numerous pillboxes, anti-tank obstacles, ditches and tank traps. Cuckmere Haven featured heavily in the war effort: at night lights were placed to confuse bombers into thinking they were above Newhaven and an airfield was set up further inland. As well as the permanent constructions, the river was heavily mined.[1]
[edit] Cuckmere Haven as a film location
The beach at Cuckmere Haven was used for the opening scene in Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the Seven Sisters cliff face was briefly featured in the Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The beach was featured in the 2007 film Atonement: a postcard of the coastguard cottage overlooking the beach was a central element of the plot, with Robbie Turner focusing on it as the idyll where he and Cecilia Tallis would retire after World War II. The final sequence of the film with Robbie and Cecilia running in the waves was shot on the beach.
The cliffhanger at the end of TV sitcom Green Wing Series 1 was filmed at Cuckmere Haven.
Harry Potter and the prince of theifs was filmed at cuckmere haven breifly
[edit] Settlements within the park
There are two hamlets, Exceat and Foxhole, along with the tiny group of derelict and deserted houses right next to the sea. Exceat is right next to the Friston Forest car park and is a group of farm buildings with facilities and a café. There is also a tiny old shepherd's caravan. The name "Exceat" derives from the old English word for "exit", the hamlet being a sort of exit for people sailing out to the Channel. Foxhole is another group of agricultural buildings, with a large pond at the centre. The two houses are home to the Seven Sisters Country Park rangers, and one barn has been converted to a camping barn, with an adjacent field for camping. This is known as Foxhole Campsite, and is very useful for South Downs Way walkers.
[edit] Wildlife and ecosystem
Cuckmere Haven is home to a large variety of wildlife, and has an excellent ecosystem. Domestic sheep and cattle graze the grass, keeping the fields at a constant vegetation level. Woodpigeons and rooks pick at the stubble and aquatic birds such as oystercatchers forage in the water meadows. The result is a very fertile area of land. The beaches are made up of shingle and, right by the sea, rockpools. Chalk is eroded off the cliffs but not much ends up on the beach. A lot of driftwood and rubbish, including a lot of plastic gloves recently, end up on the beach but fortunately do not seem to pollute the environment and do not spoil the view of the beach.
[edit] Reptiles
[edit] Mammals
- Badger
- Rabbits live in the sandy banks by the main path
- Red fox
- Domestic cattle (largely young bullocks) and sheep are found grazing all round the park and for this reason dogs must be kept on leads. These herbivores are mainly owned by Foxhole Farm.
[edit] Birds
- Black-headed gull
- Brent goose
- Canada goose
- Carrion crow
- Common sandpiper
- Fulmars nest on the cliffs in summer, and although not as common as the herring gulls, can easily be spotted from the beach.
- Green woodpecker
- Grey heron
- Grey wagtail
- Greylag goose
- Herring gull
- Jackdaw
- Kestrel
- Little egrets had their first stronghold here at Cuckmere Haven and nest on the marshy area by the beach with the herons, with which they often forage and from which they seem to have learnt some aspects of survival at Cuckmere.
- Little grebe
- Meadow pipit
- Oystercatcher
- Pied wagtail
- Common pochard
- Common redshank
- Reed bunting
- Ringed plover
- Rook
- Sand martins nest in the burrows they build in the sand banks by the path in summer. However, these burrows are taken over by rabbits in the martins' absence and have to be chased out when the birds return in spring.
- Common shelduck
- Short-eared Owl
- Skylarks tend to stay on the hills to the east of the river, where they nest in the long grass and rise up to sing.
- Stonechat
- Swallow
- Wigeon
- Woodpigeon
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Foot, 2006, p40-47
[edit] General references
- Foot, William (2006). Beaches, fields, streets, and hills ... the anti-invasion landscapes of England, 1940. Council for British Archaeology. ISBN 1-902771-53-2.
