East Dean Park Wood

Also within

West Sussex County SOUTH DOWNS National Park

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Ancient woodland, Coppiced woodland

Geology & landscape

Rock Type: Chalk

Description

Area, 18.21 ha. 44.99 ac. Description East Dean Park Wood is one of very few remaining examples of a chalk dry valley wood supporting a nationally important epiphytic flora, once frequent in sheltered West Sussex chalk woodlands, but now extremely rare. The site lies on an area of deep calcareous loams to the south of East Dean village. Much of the woodland was formerly a mediaeval deer park but many areas have been converted to coppice or replanted, although remnants of high forest remain. The ground flora is extremely rich and over 100 species of woodland plant have been recorded here, including a number indicative of ancient woodland; that is, areas of land which have been continuously wooded since the middle of the 18th century or before. Typical species include dog’s mercury Mercurialis perennis, spurge laurel Daphne laureola, yellow archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon, bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta, early purple orchid Orchis mascula and sanicle Sanicula europaea. Most of the site consists of hazel Corylus avellana or sweet chestnut Castanea sativa coppice, with pedunculate oak Quercus robur and ash Fraxinus excelsior standards. Silver birch Betula pendula and beech Fagus sylvatica are also present, but it is largely the oak and ash standards which support the outstanding assemblage of epiphytes. This includes over 80 lichen species and 44 bryophytes mosses and liverworts. The wood is one of the last remaining sites in Sussex for the 'old forest' lichens Lobaria pulmonaria and Sticta limbata. Notable bryophyte species include the moss Leucodon sciuroides and the liverwort Frullania tamarisci.

Species mentioned

Insects to look out for

These moths, butterflies and beetles are known to feed on plants recorded at this site, and carry a notable UK conservation status — but a host-plant being present doesn't mean the insect has actually been recorded here. Treat this as "worth watching for," not a confirmed sighting.

Host-plant data: Cook et al. (2025), Traits data for the butterflies and macro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland, 2024, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology / Butterfly Conservation; and Padovani et al. (2020), Database of Insects and their Food Plants (DBIF), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (both Open Government Licence). Contains data supplied by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.