Nature Reserves & Green Spaces

A 345 hectare costal nature reserve extending from the East Hill to Firehills on the eastern boundary of Hastings Borough, East Sussex, UK. The nature reserve sits within the Hastings Cliffs Special Area of Conservation, the Hastings Cliffs to Pett Beach Site of Special Scientific Interest and the High Weald National Landscape.​​​​

The importance of this site cannot be overestimated with it's rich history, archaeology, geology, geomorphology, ecology and value to the local economy & tourism within the town. One of the most important sites in the Borough for pollinator & botanical diversity and a hotspot for bird migration.

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An idyllic mix of ancient gill woodland, wood pasture, lowland meadows and ponds nestled in the north of Hastings. Skilfully managed and cared for by the St. Helen's Park Preservation Society.​

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Ponds Wood Nature Reserve

A biologically rich remnant of the ancient High Weald landscape with flower rich lowland meadows, ancient gill woodland and bryophyte (mosses & liverworts) rich exposed sandstone along the steep sided gill streams. The nature reserve sits within the Marline Valley Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest.​​​

This site is one of the most important areas in Hastings & St. Leonards for biodiversity providing habitat for one of the rarest bees in Britain. The complex mosaic of soft rock cliff & undercliff, coastal vegetated shingle, intertidal mudflats , rock and shallow water habitats is rich in coastal and marine life.

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Alexandra Park was officially opened in 1822 and is the largest park in Hastings with one of the best tree collections in Britain. The northern most end of the park, which includes Old Roar Gill, is a designated Local Nature Reserve but the entire park is rich in biodiversity and has huge potential for biodiversity gain with improvements to management of the more formal parts of the park.​

A predominately urban area that includes the old bathing pool site, West Marina Gardens, West St. Leonards Cliffs, Bo-peep and the West St. Leonards railway sidings. Rich in urban biodiversity including breeding Charadrius hiaticula (ringed plover) on the old bathing pool site.

An extraordinary wetland nature reserve on the western boundary of Hastings Borough. Part of the Combe Haven Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest and Combe Valley Countryside Park. Ecologically complex with a rich invertebrate population and a magnet for migrant birds in spring and autumn.

Church Wood & Robsack Wood are remnants of a much larger area of forest that used to cover most of the Hollington area. The ancient coppice woodland in the central plateau of the nature reserve, surrounding Church-in-the-wood churchyard, is dryer and more acidic with a distinctively different botanical nature to other woodlands in Hastings. 

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Summerfields Wood & White Rock Gardens

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Hastings Beach, Goat Ledge & Bottle Alley