Bexhill-on-Sea put-in (Rother)

Sediment along this stretch of coast drifts eastward, which is why a series of timber groynes cross the beach at intervals to hold it in place. The council's own guidance warns of rocks, underwater obstructions and sandbars, and notes that soft sand or mud can appear at low tide in shifting locations, so how far the tide has fallen governs whether a return crosses open water or exposed ground.

The water offshore lies within the Beachy Head East Marine Conservation Zone, designated in May 2019 over an inshore area of 195 square kilometres in the Eastern Channel. It protects a sandstone and chalk reef system with subtidal sand and coarse sediment, reefs built by the Ross worm from sand and shell fragments, and the short-snouted seahorse, and the site is considered a nursery area for herring, plaice and Dover sole.

Two further Sites of Nature Conservation Importance sit within the same zone: the Royal Sovereign Shoals and the Horse of Willingdon Reef, alongside vulnerable blue mussel beds.

Offshore between Beachy Head and Dungeness the tidal stream reverses through the day: the east-going stream reaches a spring rate of about 2.6 knots and the west-going stream about 2 knots, both setting away from this coast.