Animals
Shanklin Chine is a haven for wildlife. The steep sides and flowing water provide a mini sanctuary for mammals, birds and insects alike. Enjoy a cup of tea or piece of cake in the onsite tearoom, where you may be lucky enough to have a friendly visitor join you.
Mammals
Whilst the red squirrels occupy the tree top canopy, on the ground, foxes and badgers are regular visitors too.
If you’re lucky you may see a red squirrel. We believe we have three families of red squirrels and we are encouraging them to breed, as this environment is very attractive for these animals with its vast amounts of food and safe and secure cover.
Birds
Many species of birds are at home in the Chine, some friendly, some very shy, all enjoying the tranquillity of the open space and its sanctuary. These include the blackbird, robin, blue tit and grey wagtails. You may also see a kestrel on or near the cliffs at the back of Fisherman’s Cottage.
Invertebrates
In the less shaded areas of the Chine there is more light, which encourages a variety of flowering plants, which in turn attracts many species of butterfly. The stream and ponds with their moist banks and bog plants are a good habitat for dragonflies and damselflies.
Some of the dark hidey holes of Shanklin Chine are home to Meta menardi, the cave spider, an unusual, shy and hardly ever recorded spider which lives almost exclusively in complete darkness, and so is hardly ever seen and often thought of as very rare.
Plants
Shanklin Chine is famous for its flora and fauna. There are at least 150 varieties of wild plants and more than 50 species of moss and liverworts have so far been recorded, some of them extremely rare. Ferns, grasses, wild garlic, horsetails, golden saxifrage, wild fuchsia, winter-flowering heliotrope – to name but a few – all grow in profusion.
Gunnera
Gunneraceae / Hakiragudaceae
Genus of about 45 species of summer-flowering rhizomatous, herbaceous or evergreen perennials from moist areas in Southern Africa, Australia and South America.
Gunneras vary in size from diminutive and mat-forming to extremely large and clump-forming with massive leaves. They are cultivated primarily for their handsome foliage. Enormous dark green kidney-shaped, lobed and toothed leaves, sometimes up to 10ft across. Are borne on stout prickly stems and make this a most striking plant. Insignificant green flowers from dense, cone-shaped panicles 24in high and 12in wide at the base. These first flowers appear with the young leaves in April and develop slowly, changing from red to brown. Pollen is shed in May or June, and the seeds ripen in October. The crowns of the plants are susceptible to extreme cold, and it is necessary during the winter months to protect these, usually by covering them with their own leaves. In the spring, these are drawn aside and placed around the base of the plants to act as mulch.
Hydrangea
Hydrangeaceae
Hydrangeas are native to Asia and America. There are over 70 species of Hydrangea, and most of these are native to Eastern Asia including Japan, China and Korea. They have been cultivated in Japan for centuries. They’re mentioned in poetry from as long ago as 710 AD.
A genus of 80 species of deciduous and evergreen flowering shrubs and climbers. The species, with the exception of Hydrangeaceae Integerrima, are all deciduous. They are hardy in the south and west and make admirable shrubs for town gardens and mild maritime areas; elsewhere, they may require greenhouse cultivation. The deciduous climbing species are generally hardier. The small star-shaped flowers are borne in wide terminal corymbs and panicles on the previous year’s growths: the inner fertile florets are usually surrounded by sterile outer florets. Several species grow in the Chine.
Echium
Boraginaceae
A genus of 40 species of hardy and half-hardy annuals and biennials. The biennials flowering from seed in their first year, if sown in early spring, with one exception. The species are particularly suitable for borders. Echium Wildpretii, which grows in Shanklin Chine, are from the Canary Islands.
It is a tender, woody-stemmed biennial. In the first year, it forms a short stem bearing mid-green lanceolate leaves covered with silvery hairs. The following season the flowering stem appears and rapidly grows to a height of 6ft or more. The slender spire is composed of short side-branches, closely packed with pink and mauve tubular flowers that open from May to July.
Gunnera Manicata
Gunnera manicata is native to the Serra do Mar mountains of south-eastern Brazil. It grows successfully in the Chine with leaves typically 1.5m to 3m wide, borne on thick, succulent leaf stalks up to 2.5m long. It germinates best in very moist, but not wet, conditions and temperatures of 22 to 29 °C.
Liverworts
Liverworts were the first plants able to live out of water but they still need very wet conditions; assured at the top end of the Chine by the continuous spray from the waterfall. Liverworts have no roots but are attached to the ground by numerous elongated cells, called rhizoids.
Mosses
Mosses are very similar to liverworts but also have simple stems and small leaves.
Ferns
Ferns are more advanced than mosses and liverworts as they have real roots and stems with vessels to carry water and food. They can live in much drier situations.
Nature Hide
Refurbishment for 2026!
The nature hide is an area for children, to help them discover Shanklin Chine and its natural beauty, rebuilt after winter landslide in 2013. There are information posters and colourful photographic boards that will encourage them to learn more about this wonderful place. For the older children we have information about the History of the Chine including PLUTO, the Pipe Line Under The Ocean.
There is also a live camera on our red squirrel feeder so you can watch one of our shyest endangered animals coming for their daily supplies. As this is a live feed we cannot guarantee that they will visit while you watch, but we hope they do!
We have added two bird feeders to the area around the nature hide to encourage the wild birds, and our very friendly little robin will even eat from your hand!