How many nature reserves can you visit this year?

, 05 January 2026
How many nature reserves can you visit this year?
Map © Kai Hilton

This year, why not set yourself a challenge and see how many Sussex Wildlife Trust nature reserves you can visit?

Our nature reserves showcase the very best of Sussex's landscapes – coastal, woodland, downland and wetland – and they're all yours to explore for free.

Fancy holing up in hides to witness masses of wetland winter waders? Spend a day at Rye Harbour, where the shingle beach and lagoons come alive with birdlife.

If ancient woodland and autumn fungi hunting are more your thing, Ebernoe Wildlands has you covered. Wander beneath centuries-old trees and discover an extraordinary array of toadstools and brackets.

Or how about a spring stomp across the South Downs amid pollinator-dotted chalk grassland? Head to Malling Down and Southerham, where wildflowers paint the slopes and butterflies dance in the sunshine.

All of our reserves span East and West Sussex, offering something special in every season. Download a copy of our reserves map, pack your boots, and start ticking them off as you visit.

Find a Sussex Wildlife Trust nature reserve near you.

Click to view map
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Comments

  • Suzy:

    This is a great suggestion to add to the wish list for 2026.
    It would be brilliant to have more information about how to reach some of your reserves by public transport, for those of us without cars or just looking for an alternative way to travel.

    23 Jan 2026 08:57:00

  • Sussex Wildlife Trust:

    Thanks Suzy - we are updating our reserves webpages, and will be including much more information and about how to get there and what to expect. Watch out for news on this in the spring. 

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