About

Since 1990, the Cuckoo Trail is a leisure route used by walkers, cyclists and horse riders.  The 11 mile trail runs from Polegate to Heathfield and has a three mile extension to Shinewater Park, Eastbourne.

It passes through some of the districts most beautiful countryside and is extremely popular with some 250,000 visitors every year.

Being mainly off-road it is suitable and safe for people of all ages and abilities.  The slight gradients and sloped accesses make the trail available to most mobility scooters and wheelchairs.

On the trail you might see the following:

Cuckoo, a summer visitor, you can listen for the distinctive call from April to June. Lays its eggs in the nests of birds of other species (mainly Dunnock in this area). The young cuckoo ejects the hosts’ own eggs and demands all the food. It is grey with a long tail, usually solitary and flying with shallow wing beats.

Dunnock, like a sparrow but not a sparrow! Commonly seen hopping about on or near the ground along the Trail. Grey-brown with darker stripes on its back and a narrow beak, sings a rolling, warbling song from an exposed perch. It nests in dense cover such as thorn bushes and may unwittingly play host to a Cuckoo.

Lady’s Smock also known as Cuckoo Flower. Commonly found in damp places along the Trail. The pale mauve flowers with four petals appear in spring.

The Orange Tip butterfly starts life as a bright orange egg. This deters other Orange Tips from laying eggs on the same plant. Only the male butterfly has an orange tip to the cream wings. The green caterpillars of the Orange Tip feed mainly on the Cuckoo Flower.

Lords and Ladies, also known as Cuckoo Pint, can be seen for most of the year in shaded areas. The leaves are arrowshaped and glossy. The flower starts white, turns black then produces a cluster of green berries, which go bright orange-red in the autumn and are poisonous.