The wildlife of Hastings is among the most diverse in the country yet it's often overlooked or taken for granted by the very people it can benefit most. That's why we've helped local volunteers produce WildHastings, a new website with an important purpose.
With financial support from English Nature, the New Opportunities Fund and the Wildspace Fund, the website encourages everybody to learn more about the town's extraordinary green spaces and helps them keep up-to-date with the very latest wildlife and nature conservation news.
We now have six Local Nature Reserves in the town and three Sites of Special Scientific Interest, one of which is a Special Area of Conservation. Throughout the town there are also many smaller but just as important wildlife areas like parks, gardens and road verges. Of course, there's also the sea which, in a way, is our largest nature reserve used by dolphins, porpoises, seals and large numbers of sea birds.
Wild Hastings tells you how to get to each site, what to look for at different times of the year and everything you need to know about our comprehensive events programme. You can take virtual tours with interactive maps, wildlife hotspots and photos and movie clips of Hastings wildlife. You can also download desktop wallpapers for your home PC and contribute to the site by sending in your own wildlife information and photos.
During Spring and Autumn the wildlife news pages are updated almost daily with records of birds, insects and the latest dolphin, porpoise and seal sightings. You can keep even more up-to-date with wildlife news by joining the Hastings Wildlife e-group through the site.
Council Leader Jeremy Birch said:
"This will help promote Hastings and its wonderful wildlife around the world. I hope it encourages even more people in the town to visit the wonderful areas we have on our doorstep."
A Wild Hastings leaflet will soon be published to promote the website to everybody in the town.
Please visit www.wildhastings.org.uk to discover it for yourself
We're serious about protecting the town's wildlife which is why we're turning two of its best-loved woodland areas into Local Nature Reserves as part of our ongoing programme with English Nature, the New Opportunities Fund and Wildspace.
Tucked behind Summerfields Sports Centre on the edge of the Town Centre, Summerfields Wood is an enchanting area of semi-natural woodland (shown above). Working with our many volunteers, we've recently restored its ponds, installed artwork and started to manage the woodland for the future. We've also improved Brisco's Walk to make the woods more accessible and put in some more benches.
Church Wood and Robsack Wood are the remains of a larger area of ancient woodland which covered much of the Hollington area. Its Spring plant diversity is incredibly high so look out for Purple Orchids, Goldilocks Buttercups, CowWheat, ToothWort and the scarce Coralroot Bittercress.
You can also see or hear many different species of bird in Spring and Summer including Willow Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats and, if you're lucky, Hawfinches.
The rare Woodland Grasshopper can also be heard singing during Summer in the newly coppiced areas of the wood. Coppicing is done on a rotational basis throughout the wood and involves cutting trees near their base so they grow up as numerous stems. It's an essential part of maintaining the insect, bird and wildflower populations within the wood and is just one of the ways in which we're protecting it for the future.
To find out more about these areas please look on the WildHastings website www.wildhastings.org.uk or contact our Local Nature Reserve officer on 01424 781043.
British Conservation Trust Volunteer's Hastings Greenspace Project is launching a "Friends of Summerfields Wood" group.
The Project Officer would like to hear from anyone who'd like to help look after the wood's many habitats and historical features. If you're interested, meet one of our Country Park Rangers at 1pm outside Summerfields Sports Centre on Saturday May 15 to explore the woods and admire its new art installation.
Afterwards there will be refreshments and a chance to find out more about the future of the woods.
Telephone 01424 446395 for more information or e-mail Hastings-Greenspace@btcv.org.uk
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This page last updated: 26/04/2004