Ferns, Fossils, Fauna and Inspiration – Hastings Country Park and Nature Reserve – A Scientific Walk

[Author’s Note:  I first wrote this little piece back in 2012, but I soon had to add an update (which I expected to be temporary) because of the landslip at Eccelsbourne Glen.  Little did I know at the time that I would still have to be updating updates 8 years later – my finger is firmly pointed at the usual antics of Hastings Council and the Park Rangers!

A river of mud washed away the path.

So, rather than risk this entry turning into a dreary list of amendments, I decided to re-write it; keeping as much of the original as possible, but also adding a few new comments and pictures where I thought they could improve on the original.  I hope you like it.]

About The Walk

Many locals agree that one of the best things about living in Hastings is the Hastings Country Park and Nature Reserve.  Starting at the East Hill, the park stretches along the cliff tops and valleys (glens) to Firehills, before the land drops away to Pett Level, Winchelsea Beach and Rye.  About halfway along the route, a narrow path winds down the cliffs to a secluded, ‘secret’ beach.

A couple of hours’ walk takes in a variety of views and habitats, including rare maritime acid grassland and heath, ancient gill woodland, and, less accessibly, soft rock cliffs – all brimming with wildlife. Along the way it passes, up and down, through ancient woodland and several steep valleys with streams. From the cliff tops there are great sea views, and you might sight a pod of dolphins working their way along the coast, or surprise an adder sunbathing on the grassland meadows, or a lizard scuttling and freezing in the undergrowth. Seals are occasionally spotted, but it is probably the plant and bird life which is easiest to appreciate.

Much of the park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Conservation Area, with interesting geology and much important and rare flora and fauna.   A copy of the report for designating the Park as an SSSI can be found at Country Park SSSI, which is, as always, well worth a preparatory read.

[Tip for Scientific Tourists in the UK.  Check out Natural England’s Designated Sites View page for your destination.  The whole site is worth bookmarking for general interest, but it’s a great way to find little gems you might otherwise miss.]

A useful source of information is the Friends of Hastings Country Park.  Another is Wild Hastings blog (now archived i.e. no longer maintained).  The Maps, Plans & Documents link on the Wild Hastings site leads to some useful and attractive, albeit apparently disregarded, documents about the biodiversity of the park and what you animal and plants you might seem as well as explaining the variety of habitats this walk takes you through.  Worth downloading and printing as a field guide..

Apparently, the once very active volunteers of Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve Conservation Group have had their activities curtailed, and efforts spurned, by the twin bureaucracies of council and park rangers (who both seem more intent on establishing little empires than on improving the park by sharing with the enthusiastic locals), but their website is still updated regularly and worth a look.

Foxes and badgers are common, and stoats, dormice and weasels all live here though they are less often seen.

A good guide to the botanical highlights can be found at the Wild Hastings site.  Again, the site is archived, but the link to the beautifully photographed pdf of wild flowers still works.

A report about what you might see is available at Hastings Biodiversity Report.   Alas, the council’s glossily, and doubtless very expensively, produced, ‘Biodiversity Plan’ of 2007 is full of vague but worthy intentions.

A well-maintained blog (daily entries) with current and past sightings in the park and across the Levels, can be found at RX Wildlife. This is particularly useful for birds and moths, especially as so many migratory birds stop off here.

A somewhat technical report on the geology of the park, commissioned by The British Geological Survey, especially as revealed along the cliffs, can be found at Geological Investigation of the Ashdown Beds at Fairlight.   Much more accessible is Discovering Fossils at Fairlight and its companion site Discovering Fossils at Hastings.

But for a really good exposition of the fascinating geology of the Wealden area, and its influences and consequences for the whole of Sussex and Kent, specifically mentioning the park, see Professor Richard Fortey’s ‘The Hidden Landscape – A Journey into the Geological Past’ (Bodley Head 2010.)  Read chapter 13, The Weald, to really understand what you are seeing and how it came to be.

John Logie Baird, often credited (not entirely unfairly, he probably did build the world’s first working system) with inventing television, reported that it was while walking over these cliffs to Fairlight Glen that the ideas for ‘Seeing by Wireless‘ were formed and inspired.    Who knows what inspiration may strike you?

Practical

Although no great distance is covered, the main path runs through 3 steep-sided valleys and is not suitable for the infirm.   This route is longer than following the main path along the cliffs but avoids the steepest climbs by following the much more interesting paths along the gill streams.    Allow at least a couple of hours to Firehills, and another hour or so down to Pett Level.

You can take a gentler but less scenic route inland on your return, or catch a bus back to Hastings (check the timetable for bus 101 first.)    Alternatively, return via the beach, but be warned – it’s rocky or deep shingle most of the way and takes a while.  Check those tides!

The park is well-signposted, and there are several boards with maps along the way.   The same map can be downloaded from Friends of Hastings Country Park

I will refer to the marked Waypost numbers (red circles on the map) throughout the walk.

Warning!

The cliffs are eroding fast.    Take care near the edge and when on the beach, especially after recent rainfall.   Also, the combination of tides, cliffs and bays means it’s easy to get cut off if you wander along the beach.  Again, check the tide tables at Hastings Council Tide Tables.

If you do slip, however, then you are in good (?) company.  Lord Byron wrote from Hastings in August 1814;

“I have been eating turbot, and smuggling neat brandies and silk handkerchiefs …… and walking on the cliffs, and tumbling down hills….”

Guide

Start at the East Hill (Waypost 1) by either taking the funicular or, better, climbing the steps up from beside the Dolphin pub (good for guest ales) on Rock-a-Nore for great views of the traditional Net Sheds and the fishermen’s beach.  After admiring the view of the Old Town, pass along the cliff tops past the earliest known local Neolithic settlement (looking back westwards for a great view all the way to Beachy Head and the South Downs) until the land drops down into woods.  (Waypost 2)

 

This is Ecclesboune Glen, and the first of the three valleys.    These glens (gills – narrow rocky valleys surrounding a stream) provide a special micro-climate and habitat for rare invertebrates, as well as mosses, lichens and liverworts, and the plateaus between them present another set of rare and special habitats.

The landslips of 2013/14 have blocked the steep stair of the old coastal path down to Waypost 3 (though it probably remains accessible to the limber, given the local’s defiant refusal to accept the edicts and prohibitions of the council), but the path to the left, inland along the valley ridge, has recently (August 2020) been reopened.  Follow this until you come to Waypost 5, then turn right to Waypost 7. 

Having crossed the valley floor, you are heading back towards the sea along the East side of the glen.  After a few metres, take the path on your right into the woods and down the valley side.  This stair follows the stream down the valley, crossing it several times on wooden bridges as it passes down a rocky gorge and through ancient woodland.  Eventually, you will descend to the valley bottom (may be a bit overgrown, but persist)  where you rejoin the coastal path (towards Waypost 3).  

[The old path which ran to the left along the valley side from about halfway down the west stair, between Waypoints 2 & 3, and which led past the ‘caves’ (outcrops of sandstone into which small ‘caves’ have been excavated) has been blocked-off by the overzealous Council and is no longer accessible. To see them, you’ll have to backtrack from the bridge, but it is probably not worth the digression.]

Jump the fence to follow the stream to where a small waterfall empties onto the beach.  You may be able to get down to the beach here, but it’s an uncertain scramble, depending on erosion.  Retracing your steps to the fence, turn right (East) up the steep stair up to the tops.

 

The path now opens out onto rare coastal acid grassland meadows, filled with a variety of wildflowers and attracting many invertebrates, with great views east and westwards along the coast, and across the Channel to France.  Follow the cliff tops and continue eastwards, past Waypoint 8.

After a while (Waypoint 12), the path again heads down into ancient woodland and another steep-sided valley (Fairlight Glen) with a stream at the bottom.

 

Continue down past Waypoint 16 until, at the lowest point of the glen, a clear path leads over a fence, across the stream and down onto Covehurst Wood and Bay.   This is pretty much your only chance of accessing the beach between Hastings and Pett Level.

Despite the warning signs. the path, though steep, is usually quite safe and easily negotiable (at your own risk and watch out after heavy rain), and the reward is a small bay, cut off at high tide, with several small streams and some interesting landscaping.  This is the locals’ ‘secret’ beach, and access (and the ‘Bonsai Geography’) has been maintained by locals since at least the 1960s, apparently against the wishes of the over-officious Country Park staff.  It takes a considerable amount of (voluntary) labour to maintain access, as the steps wash away every winter.  And on the subject of rebellion, there is well-documented evidence that this glen was used by smugglers throughout the ages – three were shot dead by Revenue men in 1827.  Park Rangers, beware!

The beach is steep and narrow at high tide, and there are plenty of rocks, but the land behind, beneath the cliffs, has a maze of gorse and artificial pools, as well as Covehurst Wood.   It’s an unofficial naturist beach (clothes optional) and a fine sun trap on a good day, so be prepared to suddenly meet middle-aged and older men wearing nothing but a hat and a pair of trainers. Behind the beach, a maze of twisty paths through tall gorse bushes can make a surprise encounter more likely.

However, if you’re feeling intrepid, it’s worth taking a look at the ‘Bonsai Geography’ where the many rivulets are channelled into pools like paddy fields.   In summer the pools are full of newts and various aquatic bugs, and an aerial battleground for several species of beautiful, dog-fighting dragonflies

Bring a picnic and make a day of it. When you get tired of sitting on the beach, there are several rare species of plants (orchids, bryophytes, mosses and lichens) and invertebrates living here in the isolation of relatively undisturbed Covehurst Wood.

[Alternative Routes – From the beach you can return to Hastings along the beach, follow the beach to Pett (either way, check the tides!), catch a bus by leaving the park (look for signs to Barley Lane/Fairlight Road) or return to continue through the park to Firehills (recommended!)]

Back up the path and over the fence to the park proper, follow a small path beside the stream up Fairlight Glen.

The Victorians ran special trains for visitors to come and admire the rare ferns, lichens, liverworts and mosses thriving in the microclimate beside this stream.   Bradshaw’s Railway Guide (1839) says,

‘A week may be delightfully spent in exploring the fairy-like nooks about Fairlight alone.’

and recommends Hastings as a good alternative to Portugal for invalids.  Alas, the farmhouse doubling as a pub and restaurant that Bradshaw recommends is no longer serving.

The Victorian craze of Pteridomania was particularly popular with young women, being thought suitably unexciting for the delicate female, who was also thus able to shake off the worst restrictions of chaperones and Victorian propriety.  But, oh for a time when science was cool and scientists the admired celebrities!  Fairlight Glen is still home to several species of rare plants, as well as dormice and a whole raft of scarce invertebrates.

Eventually, you reach a couple of small waterfalls (named Dripping Well, Waypoint 15) where you rejoin a main path (signposted Firehills), turning right to head back along the eastward glen side towards the sea.

Follow the path right past outcrops of rock with Edwardian (and possibly Victorian?) graffiti, noting the elegant calligraphy with serifs and periods after initials, and tree roots grasping rocks like a miniature Angkor Wat, and take the steep stair (signposted Firehills, Waypoint 17) heading left and up to the tops.

After 50m or so, (Waypoint 18) again head down into the (thankfully) final valley. This is Warren Glen.  A steep stair leads down the valley side before a gentler slope begins.

A little further down, a small side path heads right, towards the sea. At the end is a great view westward over Covehurst Wood and Bay, as well as eastward towards Dungeness.

Back to the main path and continue downwards until, just before the stream, take a path leading left up the valley floor (Waypoint 21).   Crossing the stream at a small bridge, keep to the left-hand path.  Follow this up Warren Glen, through woods and over several small streams, until you emerge on the heathland (Waypoint 20).  This part of the park is being managed by grazing by Belted Angus cattle and horses, in an attempt to control the bracken and gorse.

From here, either cross the main path towards the maze of a disused stone quarry, (an excellent suntrap if the weather is blowy) or head right passed Waypoint 23 towards the radar of the Coastguard Station (Waypoint 24).

You are now at Firehills.   From here, and from the nearby church steeple (which you can climb), there are great views.  France is visible on a moderately clear day, as are the White Cliffs at Dover.   From up here you can see all the landscape described by Fortey in his book.

There is a visitors’ centre with some interesting exhibits (fossils and fauna) and, not far away, a tea room.*  There’s a monument to one of Hastings’s more eccentric sons, one Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, later calling himself Grey Owl, having been ‘naturalised’ by a tribe of North American Indians, who was an early advocate and activist for environmental conservation at the beginning of the 20th century.

As one of the highest points along the coast, Firehills and nearby North’s Seat played an important role in map making and astronomy.  In 1787, General William Roy came to establish Triangulation Points (and a 30ft tower) to begin making the first precise maps of the country in what was later to become the Ordnance Survey.  Looking east, you can see the great military canals built as a defence against Napoleon.  In 1825, JFW Herschel (son of William) came ‘for the purpose of determining the difference of meridians of the Royal Observatories of Greenwich and Paris.’  This work involved observing and timing signal rockets from the tower of the local church (St Andrews, you can ascend the tower for great views)  and across the Channel at La Canche.

On its great, lonely spit of shingle stands the surreal Dungeness Nuclear plant, while Rye and Camber Sands lie before you.    There are great views across the Levels, far into Kent.   You can clearly see the line of steep hills bordering the Levels – once the cliff edge, when, not so long ago, this was all under the sea.

 

Onwards From Firehills

From Firehills, you can head down to Pett Level and its beaches, fossils, Nature Reserve and sunken forest, [Highly recommended!] or you can hop a bus back to Hastings. You can also walk along the inland path back to town, which has the advantage that, while it’s not nearly so interesting and varied, it has far fewer hills to climb and is far gentler.

But it’s worth continuing down to Pett, so follow the path East until it leaves the park (Waypoint 27) on the cliff top at the unmetalled Channel Way.

Erosion (and landowners) have cut the coastal path here, so you need a short detour through the village. Follow the cliff road from the park towards the confusingly named Fairlight village, and turn left along Smuggler’s Way toward the village. Take the first right (Bramble Way) and continue along Rockmead Road until taking the right at the T junction with Lower Waites Lane. Keep along this rather charming lane until you reach a stile leading to another footpath across fields and up along the cliff tops.

Eventually, this path leads down to the coast road at the aptly named Cliff End.  Follow the road 100m to reach what used to be a very convenient pub*, and access to the beach at the volunteer lifeboat station (and a tiny church – think garden shed.)  Head to the beach where, at low tide, the remains of a forest are being petrified and poke out from the sand.

Although the trees look recent, they are, in fact, 4,000 years old, and given the local findings of meso- and neolithic artefacts, the same people who walked in these woods saw the building of Stonehenge.  To your right is one of the most productive fossil beds along this coast, where the footprints of iguanodon (the first dinosaur to be fully described and recognised as such, from specimens unearthed from Wealden clays) are frequently found, as well as both living and fossilised examples of the horsetails on which it probably fed.  Again, be careful near the cliffs and don’t venture around the headland without checking the tides.

If, by now, you are tired, you can hop a bus back to Hastings.  Just stand beside the road and hail one.  Or you could continue along Winchelsea Beach towards Rye through the nature reserve, with its important wetland habitats for various birds.  Well worth a visit in their own right (see spoonbills feeding in the pools and flooded pits! Spoonbills In Sussex – Rye Harbour Nature Reserve)  but adding a further 10km or so, and perhaps rather far for this walk.  There is a bus through the 3.5km of the rather lonely industrial estate from the hamlet of Rye Harbour (where the harbour isn’t) to Rye itself (for trains or buses back to Hastings, and where the harbour actually is), but do check the timetable.  A couple of pubs at Rye Harbour serve food, but check times before relying on them.

An alternative, shorter, extension is to climb the hill from Winchelsea Beach to Winchelsea town itself.  This beautiful little village is a true delight, especially in Spring or Summer when the charming houses are bedecked with flowers.  Originally a walled harbour port, before the sea retreated, quiet Winchelsea has picturesque beauty and history that, while easily rivalling nearby Rye, has yet to be discovered and spoilt by tourists.  In fact, if ever this blog becomes popular I might delete any mention of the town to keep it our little secret. The large church is worth a visit not least for the grave of the comedian Spike Milligan, whose epitaph ( in Gaelic) reads, ‘I told you I was ill’.  There is a small museumThe New Inn does decent food and local beers and wines.  And the 100 bus will take you back to Hastings.

*  Aaarrgghhh!  Sadly, as of 2018, the Smuggler pub has been closed and converted into a private residence.  It made a convenient break and was the only pub between Hastings and Rye.  Also, rumour has it that the Coastguard Tea Rooms at Firehills has closed and is for sale.  Both are rather a sad loss for this Scientific Tourist.  Take your own refreshments then, or save your appetites for Rye/Winchelsea (rather a long way) or until you get back to Hastings. [Update 28/02/2022;  Tea rooms now reopened as Coastguard Cafe with new management!]