Parks, Gardens & Urban

It is becoming more understood just how important a biodiversity resource parks, gardens and urban green space is. It is estimated that over 430,000 ha of land in the UK is managed as a garden (Davies et al. 2009). Urban parks and gardens provide easy access to nature and biodiversity for the great majority of residents in Hastings. Private gardens and allotments provide residents with the opportunity to have a direct positive impact on biodiversity by managing gardens and allotments with wildlife in mind. Urban gardens and allotments are proving to be hotspots for wild pollinator diversity (Baldock et al. 2015).

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Local community groups, ‘Friends of’ groups and volunteering organisations provide even more opportunity for direct positive action on conserving biodiversity in parks, urban green space and local nature reserves.

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There is a great deal of potential to improve urban parks and gardens for biodiversity. The conversion of short mown amenity grass to flower rich meadow and creating pollen and nectar rich herbaceous borders in place of bedding plant displays are becoming more popular by gardeners in an effort to bring pollinators into parks and gardens. The installation of bee hotels and the creation of semi-natural bodies of standing water provides nesting and breeding space for pollinators.

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Parks and gardens also provide excellent opportunities to educate and inform visitors on the importance of biodiversity and nature conservation.

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In Hastings there are a number of outstanding parks and gardens rich in wildlife. Most notably is Alexandra Park, part of which is a Local Nature Reserve. Alexandra Park is the best place in Hastings to see the weird and bizarre parasitic plant toothwort Lathraea squamaria. This plant lacks any chlorophyll and gains all its nutrients from the roots of the host tree or shrub it grows on. The plant produces tall white flower stalks of pink flowers in April and May. Another parasitic plant common in Alexandra Park is mistletoe Viscum album which grows on fruit trees, lime and poplar.

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The parks and gardens of Hastings, especially Alexandra Park, support good populations of mistle thrush Turdus viscivorus and song thrush Turdus philomelos. Both of these birds are declining red listed species. Mistle thrush is particularly reliant on the berries of mistletoe and holly during winter so any patches of mistletoe should be retained within the parks and gardens of Hastings. The mistle thrush also plays an important role in spreading mistletoe through its droppings on tree branches throughout Alexandra Park.

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The ponds, reservoirs and streams within Alexandra Park provide habitat for a great deal of aquatic and wetland wildlife. An excellent assemblage of damselflies and dragonflies has been recorded within the park including a population of the metallic blue beautiful demoiselle Calopteryx virgo, which has only recently colonised the park.

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Kingfishers Alcedo atthis occasionally breed within Alexandra Park and can be commonly seen feeding along the streams and on the edges of Shornden Reservoir and Buck’s-hole Reservoir. The park is also the best place in Hastings for breeding grey wagtails which nest under bridges and other man-made structures in the park. 

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The gardens of Hastings are also excellent habitats for badger, hedgehog and red fox. Badgers and foxes are becoming more urbanised adapting to the abundant food resources present in urban parks and gardens. Hastings has one of the densest populations of badgers of any urban area in the UK.

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The natural world will utilise and exploit any resource available and that includes humans and man-made structures. The roof-tops of Hastings provide ideal nesting habitat for both herring gull Larus argentatus and lesser black-backed gull Larus fuscus. A small number of great black-backed gull Larus marinus also nest on buildings in Hastings. The roof-tops and building cavities in Hastings are used by many other species of nesting bird including house sparrow Passer domesticus, starling Sturnus vulgaris, house martin Delichon urbicum, swift Apus apus, swallow Hirundo rustica, black redstart Phoenicurus ochruros, feral pigeon Columba livia domestica, jackdaw Corvus monedula, pied wagtail Motacilla alba and grey wagtail Motacilla cinerea.

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The grey wagtail which is a red listed species (Eaton et al. 2015) has become firmly established as a breeding bird in Hastings over the last twenty years. Breeding occurs mainly within the lower end of Alexandra Park and grey wagtail nest boxes have been installed within Old Road Gill to encourage pairs to breed. There is also suspected breeding within St Leonards Gardens where a pair commonly forage for invertebrates around streets and buildings surrounding the gardens during summer. In winter the species is much more widespread throughout Hastings foraging for food beside streams, on roads and pavements and roosting on roof-tops. There is also a large winter roost of pied wagtails within the town centre. The roosting flock gathers first on the beach opposite Robertson Street and then moves along the roof-tops to roost in the street trees within Cambridge Road. This winter flock can number 200+ birds.

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Herring gull, house sparrow, starling, black redstart and grey wagtail are all red listed species in the Birds of Conservation Concern 4 (Eaton et al. 2015). House martin, swift, lesser black-backed gull and great black-backed gull are all amber listed species. These are all species that are greatly restricted or declining in the UK.

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Many of the walls around Hastings provide space for highly specialised species of fern, bryophyte and lichen. A number of species of wall growing fern including black spleenwort Asplenium adiantum-nigrum and house holly-fern Cyrtomium falcatum have been recorded growing on walls in Hastings. The most exceptional examples of wall growing vegetation are the walls in All Saints’ Street and High Street in the Old Town.

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Walls, buildings and man-made structures are exploited by many species of bee, wasp and spider. Leafcutter bees, mason bees and hairy-footed flower bees commonly nest in walls around Hastings and increasingly in bee hotels installed by home owners.

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Probably the most spectacular spider to make its home in walls around Hastings is the large tube-web spider Segestria florentina. This is one of the largest spiders in Britain and one of its most distinctive features are the large green iridescent fangs that can be seen waiting at the entrance to its web retreat in crevices and cracks in walls.

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There is also an assemblage of jumping spiders that specialise in living on walls these include Salticus scenicus, Pseudeuophrys lanigera and Hypositticus pubescens. Pseudeuophrys lanigera is particularly interesting as it prefers hunting very high up on buildings including roof-tops.

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Even though the lesser glow-worm Phosphaenus hemipterus has not been seen in Hastings for over 130 years it is a very elusive and difficult species to find. Most British records, including the Hastings records, involve males searching for females on walls. The larvae feed in the soil on earthworms but the females climb walls to attract males. Searching old sandstone walls in Hastings especially around St Leonards Gardens may result in the re-discovery of this very rare species in Hastings.

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Probably the most unique ‘wildlife site’ in Hastings is Bottle Alley. A 480 meter lower deck promenade between Hastings Pier and Warrior Square built in the 1930s is lit up with a new multi-coloured lighting framework and acts as a giant ‘moth trap’. A large number of moths have been recorded within Bottle Alley including a number of scarce migrants which can occur in large numbers during favourable weather. The moths and other insects attracted to the lights attract predators such as whiskered bat Myotis mystacinus and spiders such as Steatoda grossa, Steatoda bipunctata and Zygiella x-notata.