Sussex Wildlife Trust

Geology is far more than just rocks. Our geological features such as sand, rocks and sediments provide the very foundation on which everything else can live, enabling crucial habitats for plants, fungi and animals - including us!

📸Rock pipit © Alan Price

The colour of the patch of green on the wing of a Teal is created by structure of the feathers and not a pigment.
The iridescence changes with the angle of the light and in this wing flap one wind shows green and the other blue.
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This is the most advanced moult I could find today among the drake Teal at Pett Level - still some way to go until full breeding plumage is attained.
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A coppiced Ash in ancient woodland near Icklesham - the leaves look like it's still summer...

No worries! Thanks David. There's been a flurry of interest

Do you have any photos please David? If so, could you email them to me? Thanks. Emma

Happy Monday from the unseasonably warm South coast. Felt privileged to see for the first time a beautiful hummingbird hawk-moth. #nature #insect #moth #photography #sussex #england #video #wildlife @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

A shingle beach, with the sea beyond and a pleasant sky above.

A couple of Arctic Skuas were bothering Sandwich Terns close in at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve this morning. Like they don't have enough to worry about, with a 4,000km journey to West Africa looming.
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stonecat, small light brown bird looking to one side on a little branch

Stonechat numbers are very high at the moment along the coast & in wetlands. Their plumage is indistinct, but will develop as the feather tips wear away. Post/pic 📷Barry Yates @rxnature.bsky.social

Wildlife of Sussex Calendar cover

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve calendar

Our 2026 Wildlife of Sussex and Rye Harbour Nature Reserve calendars are now on sale. They feature 12 stunning full colour images from wildlife photographers who support the work of The Trust.

The calendar costs £6.99 including free postage. buff.ly/NfFKkbQ

It's International Geodiversity Day! A celebration of stone, sand and sediment - the non-living, but no less vital, features of our environment.

We spoke to the Sussex Geodiversity Partnership to celebrate geodiversity's relationship with biodiversity.

Watch here buff.ly/NunhYyH

📸©Sam Roberts

Another visitor to our newly enlarged wild pond, this a Southern Hawker, laying oodles of eggs in and around the perimeter. I wondered whether I was doing the right thing enlarging it, shouldn't have worried, provide it and nature will find it! @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #dragonflies

Spotted Flycatcher © Moi Hicks. Spotted Flycatchers are great at... catching flies! They dash from a high perch to grab a flying insect, then return to the same spot.

Geodiversity Day is 6 Oct. Geodiversity is the parts of nature that aren't alive - minerals, fossils, soils, landscapes & the natural processes that shape them. It influences habitats & species as well as our economy, historical heritage, education & health
Dragonfly fossil © Booth Museum

Did you know you can help keep your garden birds healthy? #birdfeeder Did you know you can help keep your garden birds healthy and prevent the spread of diseases by regularly cleaning your bird feeders? 🐦Watch this step by ste...

Putting birdfeeders out this autumn? Listen to wise words from Most Hygienic Robin.

(lovely work from Charlotte Wells)

Volunteers on Chailey Common under a blue sky learning how to make leaky dams © Sam Buckland

Communities are key to the recovery of nature, and action seems to be springing up all around Sussex.

We recently added 15 more community groups to our map. ✊

See what's happening near you: buff.ly/Klj8a3b

📷 Sam Buckland

Robin sitting calmly in a bird bath

Robin begins to splash

Robin having a mad splash

Splish, splash, I was having a bird bath. One happy wet Robin! Pics - John Lauper

smiling woman in front of pieces of wildlife related art including birds and fishes

The work of a new artist is now on display in the Discovery Centre at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Illustrator Alexi Francis produces extraordinary pen & ink & cut paper works as well as creations from found objects. Show on until end Oct
Photo from Friends of Rye Harbour NR
buff.ly/IDq59M4

Fox in a meadow, head sideways

Lovely profile! Fox in a Lancing meadow photo by Glynn Rubidge, posted on the Nature Table.

It's not just insects and fungi that benefit from dead wood - it's also a vital habitat for birds like woodpeckers, who not only eat the insects living within the wood, but also excavate holes for nest sites 🐣

📸Great Spotted Woodpecker © Nigel Symington

A Marsh Tit - small bird with a black cap, white cheeks and brown wings and body - sits on a twig © Margaret Holland

Marsh Tits are spread across Sussex, especially in the damp woodlands of the Weald (and generally not in marshes).

Listen out for their sneezy 'pitch-oo' call.

Across the UK, for every 10 Marsh Tits that there were in the 1960s there are only around two now.

📷 © Margaret Holland

sunrise over a bank of grass. Lovely sky

Beautiful October Rye Harbour Nature Reserve sunrise pic by Ranger Matt

Check out this beauty!

Clifden Nonpareil, sometimes known as Blue Underwing, was seen at our Woods Mill reserve this week. With a wingspan of 75-95mm (😲) they are an impressive sight!

📸 © Kai Hilton

A Turnstone washing at high tide in the Rother Estuary at Rye Harbour.
Slowed to a quarter speed.
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Photoclub Projects Exhibition 2025 — Andrew Newson Photography Courses I am delighted to announce the Photoclub Projects Photography Exhibition for 2025. The exhibition is the result of 6 photographers working on their own individual photography projects since April 202...

Full details here: andrewnewson.co.uk/journal/2025...

Eridge Rocks cliff

Photo Exhibition poster

Cliff face at Eridge Rocks

Fern shadow on rocks

Photographer Andrew Newson has been inspired by the dramatic cliffs & geologically rich landscape at Eridge Rocks Nature Reserve. Andrew's photos will be displayed at a photography exhibition in #Crowborough on 3-5 October.

Prints & books are for sale with a donation made to Sussex Wildlife Trust

A volunteer cutting back the hedgerow to preserve wildflower areas at the Deneway in Brighton. Photo by Archie Taplin

Three volunteers cutting back the hedgerow to preserve wildflower areas at the Deneway in Brighton. Photo by Archie Taplin

A volunteer with bike and a panier packed with teasel heads. At the Deneway in Brighton. Photo by Archie Taplin

Volunteers help to cut back wildflower areas ready for regrowth next year, at the Deneway nature reserve in Brighton.

Amazing how much a few willing hands can get done!

📷 Archie Taplin

Dead wood is brilliant for wildlife. Fungi soften wood through decay & the larvae of beetles start chewing it up. They provide food for woodpeckers, which make nest holes in the rotting wood. Meanwhile, holes that form where old broken branches have rotted provide crevices for bats & birds to roost

There are over 250 regional names for woodlice! Chuckypig, slater, pillbug, monkeypea, woodpig - what do you call them? 🪲

📸Woodlouse © Alan Price

Some of the wildflowers and one of the butterflies that we saw on our walk over Malling Down this morning.
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