Dr Barry Yates collected the 'New Sussex Landscapes' award on behalf of the nature reserve which is managed by East Sussex County Council. The New Sussex Landscapes Awards reward those projects that make a positive contribution to landscape through innovative and sensitive development.
Dr Yates said: "This award recognizes the successful partnership working that has enabled the improvement of this important wetland at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. We now have many very rare animals living in this new wetland, including the first booming Bittern heard in Sussex for more than a hundred years. Others include the globally threatened Medicinal Leech and the nationally rare Water Vole, Bearded Tit and Marsh Harrier."
Mrs Phyllida Stewart-Roberts, for the CPRE judges, said "Castle Water created a beautiful and peaceful environment for both visitors and wildlife. This is a very special landscape, a place where you can enjoy sea and nature".
The reedbed project at Castle Water involved the excavation of 50,000 cubic metres of soil to create a network of deep channels and shallow areas. These channels allow the free movement of fish. 78 new islands were created using the soil once it had been extracted.
The organizations working together at Castle Water include Sussex Wildlife Trust, Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, Sussex Ornithological Society, RSPB and East Sussex County Council.
Funding for the reedbed creation came through European Funding called LIFE-Nature and the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund.
For more information on the Castle Water reedbed project see the Wild Rye website.
For more information on the CPRE and the first ever CPRE Sussex Countryside Awards see the Campaign to Protect Rural England website.
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