Join a community to protect and restore nature
Woodland
The words ‘wood’, ‘wild’ and ‘weald’ all stem from the same source. Sussex is a relatively wooded county, with about 20% cover, including some outstanding ancient woodland areas as well as new natural woodland and plantations.
The wetlands
Fresh water is life. There’s a growing movement to save and restore our precious waterways and wet places, from demanding better management from our water industry to rewetting wetlands and helping Beavers to return to Sussex.
Towns & Gardens
With habitat loss and rural overdevelopment causing huge threats to many species, our gardens and urban green spaces have become a lifeline for wildlife. Connectivity and collaboration at neighbourhood level are vital to making these places the best they can be for wildlife.
The Coast & Sea
With mussels, sponges, lobsters, jellyfish, dolphins and so much more, our local seas are home to a huge range of wildlife, largely unseen and often at risk from destructive fishing practices, pollution and warming waters. We demand real protection for our marine conservation areas.
Explore the ways we defend and restore nature in Sussex
Our work to protect and restore habitats, create climate-resilient landscapes, and inspire people to take action for nature, has many strands.
Grey Seal © Alexander Mustard/2020VISIONAppeals
Sussex’s marine wildlife needs your help
Sussex’s coast and sea are home to an incredible variety of wildlife and valuable marine and coastal habitats, but they are under threat from pollution, overfishing and habitat loss.
The decline of our marine wildlife is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time, but it is not inevitable. With your support, we can monitor the waters off our coast, gather vital evidence to protect the species that live there, and restore important habitats. Together, we can help Sussex’s coast and sea recover.
We urgently need to raise £100,000 to defend our marine and coastal wildlife with evidence that decision-makers can’t ignore.
of plants, animals, birds, insects and invertebrates are found across our nature reserves in Sussex.
are members of Sussex Wildlife Trust. That’s a powerful community for change.
of land are being restored and protected in our nature reserves across Sussex.
give their time and energy to nature in their community through projects and initiatives that we run.
What’s on
Events and courses
Explore our reserves
Find your next spot to explore and enjoy nature in Sussex
From Rye Harbour and Seaford Head on the coast, to Eridge Rocks or Levin Down amidst the hills, there are over 25 Trust nature reserves waiting for your visit.
News & resources
Latest updates
Join the conversation
Connect with wildlife
Thousands of people share their love of wildlife in Sussex via social media. From garden visitors and community campaigns to the latest rare finds on our reserves, we bring it all together. Join us on your preferred platform (and get our weekly news by email).
Sep 28
This is your going-into-Autumn reminder to keep taking those staff meetings outside 🌳📵
#WorkWellbeing #WorkingInConservation #GetOutdoors
📷© Kerry Williams
Sep 27
Early September, male Ivy Bees emerge, about 2 weeks before females, when scores of males can be seen flying low over the ground with an audible hum, like honeybees around a hive. They`re waiting for the first females to emerge. When one does, the male bees try to mate with her & this is when you might see a mating ball such as this one
📸Michael Howard.
Sep 26
You hear their burbling song in the willows, but rarely see them! The Cetti`s Warbler, as spotted by Dave Rowlands. Named after 18th century zoologist, Francesco Cetti. Note how short the wings are.
Sep 25
What is this strange looking underwater beast, recently seen on one of our Seasearch dives? 🤿
It`s two Leathery Sea Squirts attached to an Oyster – of course! 😅🦪
#Marine #Seasearch #ScubaDiving
📷© Francis Jeffcock
Sep 24
He went what-away you say? Lovely Yellowhammer, posted on the Nature Table by Neale Ambrose.
Yellowhammers are Red Listed. They can be seen perched, singing their `a little bit of bread and no cheese` song.
Sep 23
The #AutumnEquinox, when day & night are of equal length, is today. This is a time that offers a hedgerow harvest of blackberries, rose hips, crab apples, hazelnuts & seeds. Many creatures take advantage of this wild harvest to build up reserves of fat for migration or hibernation.
Yellow-necked Mouse © Alan Price
Sep 22
A Robins Pincushion Wasp Gall on a Dog Rose…. quite a sentence to process 🤔
Gall Wasps lay their eggs on their host plants, which causes the plants to swell up into these shapes, or galls. The larvae feed on the plant tissue inside the galls.
#NatureIsWeird
📷© Senior Ranger – Adam Taylor
Sep 21
Smol but stretchy. 13/10 Weasel. 💚
📷© Kara Lynsdale
#Nature #Mammals
Sep 19
Trail cameras are a great way to see what happens on our reserves after night fall 🌙🦉
This Barn Owl was captured at @ryeharbournr, hunting for small mammals around the reeds.
#TrailCam #Owl #BirdsOfInstagram
Sep 18
"Found in my veg patch on Saturday! Crawled out from under my pumpkin plants! Had to Google to find out it was a Deaths-head Hawk-moth! Never seen one before."
A fantastic find shared by Jackie Love on the Sussex Wildlife Trust Nature Table Facebook page.
The Deaths-head Hawk-moth is large moth with a distinctive skull-shaped mark on the back of its thorax.
"On the whole they are a very scarce immigrant, reported in very small numbers most years," says Bob Foreman, biodiversity data specialist at the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre. "However, this year will go down as one of the best years for migrant moths, and it’s not surprising to hear reports of this species."
Bob says that they don`t normally breed in the UK. They have a long life cycle, from egg to caterpillar to pupa to adult moth, and UK winters are usually too cold for them to survive.
However, insect populations are changing rapidly, along with our climate.
"The larvae are occasionally reported feeding on potatoes and looking at the one in the photos, it’s so fresh, I wonder whether it may be a locally grown one?"
📷 © Jackie Love
#ukmoths #ukwildlife #mothsofinstagram #teammoth
Join the Sussex Wildlife Trust community
Become a member today to protect nature for tomorrow
As a member, you get access to free guided nature walks, magazines about local wildlife, discounts on courses and events, and a guide to our reserves.
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