1

EXAMPLES OF NATIONALLY IMPORTANT MARINE AREAS IN THE TERRITORIAL WATERS AROUND AND WALES

Dr Susan Gubbay

for the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

September 2001

This report should be cited as: Gubbay S (2001) Examples of Nationally Important Marine Areas in the Territorial Waters around England and Wales. RSPB, Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK 2

EXAMPLES OF NATIONALLY IMPORTANT MARINE AREAS IN THE TERRITORIAL WATERS AROUND ENGLAND & WALES

INFORMATION SOURCES

The examples cited have been taken from existing publications and have been selected to highlight sublittoral sites that fall outside the boundaries of currently proposed or candidate Special Areas of Conservation. The list is not intended to be comprehensive.

MCS COASTAL DIRECTORY

The Marine Conservation Society published a Coastal Directory for Marine Nature Conservation in 1988. This included a review of the status and species features of a range of coastal and marine habitats, communities and species, as well as an inventory of sites considered to be of marine nature conservation interest. The inventory was based on a review of survey reports, publications, a questionnaire survey and interviews with individuals who had specialist knowledge of particular areas.

Gubbay, S. (1988) A Coastal Directory for Marine Nature Conservation. Marine Conservation Society, Ross-on-Wye. 319pp.

IMPORTANT AREAS FOR MARINE WILDLIFE AROUND ENGLAND

English Nature published a Strategy for Conserving England’s Marine Heritage in 1993. This included the identification of nationally important subtidal marine areas around England (Sensitive Marine Areas) to trigger interest and awareness of important wildlife areas, and to stimulate discussion of management issues. Some of these sites were also identified by the (then) Department of the Environment and the Welsh Office as possible Marine Consultation Areas.

English Nature (1993) Conserving England’s Marine Heritage. A Strategy. English Nature, Peterborough.

English Nature (1994) Important Areas for Marine Wildlife around England. English Nature’s Sensitive Marine Areas. English Nature, Peterborough.

JNCC COASTAL DIRECTORIES

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee “Coastal Directories project” set out to collect and collate summary information to provide an overview of coastal and marine resources and human activities at national and regional levels around the of the UK. They were published during the 1990s as a series of 17 regional reports. Each report has a description of the marine and estuarine environments of the region, including important locations and communities.

Coasts and of the . Seventeen Volumes. Various Authors.

SUSSEX SITES OF MARINE NATURE CONSERVATION IMPORTANCE

These sites were identified by surveys carried out between 1992 and 1998 for the SEASEARCH project developed by the Marine Conservation Society in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy Council’s Marine Nature Conservation Review. The West Sussex SEASEARCH project recommended that certain sites, found to be of particular interest, 3 should warrant some form of conservation recognition, if not protection. East and West Sussex County Councils requested that these sites be formalised as Sussex Marine Sites of Nature Conservation Importance. They were chosen by a Selection Panel consisting of marine biologists, nature conservation and local government ecologists. The reports note that many marine SNCIs would merit SSSI status if this designation were ever extended beyond low water mark.

Irving, R. (1996) A Dossier of Sussex Marine Sites of Nature Conservation Importance. Compiled on behalf of the Sussex Marine SNCI Steering Group.

Irving, R. (1999) Report of the Sussex SEASEARCH Project, 1992-1998. Published by the Sussex SEASEARCH Project. English Nature, Lewes and Brighton & Hove Council, Brighton.

RSPB REPORTS & OBSERVATION

Information on areas of importance for seabirds and seaduck have been taken from a range of RSPB reports, surveys and county bird reports. They do not represent in any way a comprehensive list of sites likely to be of national importance for wintering seaduck and breeding seabirds.

Lock L. & Robins R. (1994) Wintering divers, grebes and seaduck in inshore coastal waters of SW England. RSPB report

Slade S. (1996) Nearshore winter seabird survey of SW England. RSPB report.

Lock L. & Slade S (1996) Wintering Seabirds in nearshore waters of the channel coast of South East England. RSPB report 4

Site Ref No. in SITE NAME MCS EN Important Sussex JNCC RSPB Number citation Coastal marine areas mSNCIs Coastal reports & Directory Directories observations

1 2 Robin Hood’s Bay 3 3  2 Sizewell to Southwold 3 3 Dungeness 3 4 12 Royal Sovereign Shoals 33 5 8 Seven Sisters 3  3 6 EC 2/8 Hope Gap 3 3 3 7 EC 3/8/11 Seaford Head/Gullies 3 3 3 3 8 10 Looe Gate 33 9 9 South-west rocks 33 10 EC 5/8 Worthing Lumps 3 3 3 3 11 6 Shelly Rocks 33 12 5 Waldrons reef 33 13 3 Inner Mulberry Harbour 3 14 4 Outer Mulberry Harbour 33 15 7 HMS Northcoates 33 16 EC 8/2 Mixon Hole 3 3 3 17 EC 9/1 Bracklesham Bay/Balls 3 3 3 18 Shoal of Lead 3 19 10 Poole Bay 333 20 WC 1/10 Kimmeridge 3 3 3 21 WC 2/11 Portland Harbour 3 3 3 3 22 11 Isle of Portland 3  23 WC 4/12 Lyme Bay 3 3 3 3 24 14 Torbay to Start Point 3 3 25 15 Bolt Tail to Start Point 3 3 3 26 WC 8 Hilsea Point/Fairland 3 27 16 Eddystone Rocks 3 3 28 WC 18/17 The Whelps 3 3 29 17 The Bizzies 3  30 17 The Manacles 3 3 31 19 St.Ives Bay 3 3 3 32 20 North 3 3 33 SW 1/20 Merope Rocks 3 3 34 SW 3/20 Kellan Head 3 3 3 35 22 North 3 3 36 Cymran Strait 3 37 The Skerries 3 5

1. ROBIN HOODS BAY for breeding little terns and Mediterranean gulls. MAIN FEATURES: Rocky reefs and sandy seabed. 4. ROYAL SOVEREIGN SHOALS

SITE DESCRIPTION: Between Scar- MAIN FEATURES: Extensive offshore borough and Whitby (N Yorks), a popular sandstone reef and part chalk reef. destination for seaside holidaymakers. The Bay is representative of moderately SITE DESCRIPTION: The reef covers an exposed sites on the North Yorkshire area of about 1km2. Most of the Shoals are coast. The rocky shore is dominated by of sandstone but there are also outcrops of fucoids with communities of mussels, chalk in the north-western part. The reef barnacles and limpets in places. Sheltered rises from a surrounding seabed of gravel, rockpools on the reefs, particularly muddy sand and sand, and the area is towards the lower shore, support subject to strong tidal currents which reach sediment-tolerant algae, while the large 2.6 knots at spring tides. The Shoals boulders towards the northern part of the display a wide range of habitat types Bay are richly encrusted with sponges. within a relatively small area and provide Rocky reefs extend offshore where there a good example of an offshore sandstone are also a variety of sediment types reef. Upward facing rock surfaces have a including rippled sand and slightly muddy covering of small foliose red algae with sand plains with boulders. At Maw Wyke many small, silt amphipod tubes. Hole, offshore sediments are poorly Commonly seen include a variety sorted, ranging from muddy sand to coarse of sponges, anemones, seasquirts, shell gravel. The is dominated by hydroids, bryozoans and starfish. In places polychaetes, amphipods, decapods and rectangular slabs of sandstone bedrock are pleuronectid fish and is species-poor. At piled on one another creating deep Beast Cliff the occurrence of the brown fissures, overhangs and caves up to 2m alga Taonia atomaria is of note since it deep and 50cm high. On the under-slab does not appear to have been recorded surfaces there are soft corals, colonies of further north in Yorkshire. This site has tubeworms and small bushy bryozoans. been identified as a Sensitive Marine Area. The elephant’s ear sponge is present and this may be the most easterly record for 2. BAY BETWEEN SOUTHWOLD this species. It may also be the most AND SIZEWELL eastern record for the Ross coral and cuckoo . Large numbers of bib and MAIN FEATURES: On the Suffolk coast, poor cod frequent the area together with the area often has nationally (and goldsinny and . The frequently internationally) important con- surrounding sediment is coarse sand and centrations of red-throated divers in cobbles at the surface, which is unstable winter, which feed on fish offshore. The but has been colonised by some chimney stretch of coast includes the RSPB’s sponges and anemones that can tolerate Minsmere reserve. the conditions.

3. DUNGENESS 5. SEVEN SISTERS

MAIN FEATURES: Headland on the Kent MAIN FEATURES: Chalk reefs, areas of coast about half way between Folkestone boulders and sediment and a section of and Hastings. Nationally important greensand reef. Breeding fulmars, herring numbers of great crested grebes (1000+) gulls and kittiwakes feed locally, and the and red-throated divers (300+) in winter. area is also occasionally important for In summer, the area is a feeding ground wintering divers and auks. for internationally important breeding populations of common terns, as well as SITE DESCRIPTION: Chalk reefs extend from the intertidal to the sublittoral with 6 the amount of bedrock and height of the 7. SEAFORD HEAD & GULLIES ridges generally decreasing with depth and increasing distance from the shore. The MAIN FEATURES: Shallow, nearshore combination of exposure to currents on the chalk gullies and ridges. ridges and shelter from currents in the gullies gives a high diversity of habitats. SITE DESCRIPTION: Seaford is close to The sublittoral communities on the upper Newhaven (East Sussex). A series of chalk surfaces of the ridges are characterised by gullies and ridges extending from just a range of red algae. These become sparser above low water to about 600m offshore. with depth and are replaced by a rich In the shallowest areas there is dense kelp sessile fauna with large populations of cover, and this grades into areas sponges. There are also substantial dominated by smaller brown and red communities of small hydroids and seaweeds. Below the dense algal zone the bryozoans. Large areas of vertical surfaces upper surfaces of the chalk ridges support are encrusted with polychaete worms. The large growths of the breadcrumb sponge lower parts of the ridges are often bare, and other sponges in less exposed places. owing to the abrasion of loose sand but, The sides of the ridges have a covering of away from these areas, there are large turf including various tubeworms, colonies of burrowing worms. The chalk is with the tubes possibly helping to prevent bored by a number of bivalves and areas erosion of the soft rock. The bases of the of sediment-covered substratum are ridges are scoured but there is often a populated by silt-favouring species. The narrow band between the animal turf and harder greensand reefs off Head Ledge do bare rock which is colonised by large not support these boring species, but do numbers of the horseshoe worm. The gully hold a number of species of sponge. This floors are of chalk, overlaid with silty site has been identified as a Sensitive muddy sand with occasional cobbles and Marine Area. pebbles. Common fish associated with the reefs include the tompot blenny, long- 6. HOPE GAP spined scorpion and the leopard spotted goby, which is near the eastern MAIN FEATURES: Chalk reefs. limit of its distribution. The site is within the Seven Sisters Sensitive Marine Area. SITE DESCRIPTION: An intertidal wave- cut platform with boulder beds, rocky 8. LOOE GATE reefs and rock pools grading into offshore chalk reefs that are considered to be some MAIN FEATURES: Chalk cliff, silty sand of the best developed in the Sussex area. mixed with shells. The reefs lie perpendicular to the coast with currents passing across them and SITE DESCRIPTION: Low-lying chalk therefore provide a combination of current cliff up to 1.5m high in places and exposed and sheltered habitats. The approximately 220m long surrounding by vertical and sloping sides of the gullies a seabed of silty sand with shell debris. support the greatest range of . The profile varies from vertical with an Kelp is found on the upper surfaces with undercut base, through a low series of foliaceous red algae below. The vertical terraces, angled faces and smooth slopes, surfaces are colonised by sponges, to jumbled chalk boulders and broken bryozoans and tubeworms. The absence of bedrock. The uppermost part of the cliff the common sea urchin from the eastern supports a sparse foliose red algal turf and Channel allows a luxuriant mixed animal a varied and densely packed attached turf to develop. The site is within the fauna except on broken surfaces. The Seven Sisters Sensitive Marine Area. dominant elements are sponges and bryozoans but there are also anemones, soft coral, two species of piddock and a good variety of sea squirts. The surrounding seabed has a fauna typical of 7 this type of sediment, with anemones, diversity of marine life. Foliaceous red crabs, the topshell and occasional chains algae dominate the upper horizontal chalk of slipper limpets. A variety of fish have surfaces while the vertical faces have a been recorded from the site with bib and covering of faunal turf with hydroids, poor cod being common, and goldsinny bryozoans, tubeworms and the black tar and corkwing wrasse also present. sponge. The upper parts of the cliff are bored by piddocks. There is a good variety 9. SOUTH-WEST ROCKS of mobile life including crabs, leopard- spotted gobies and tompot blennies. Large MAIN FEATURES: Chalk cliff, sand and numbers of lesser-spotted dogfish have pebbles. been recorded in the area during October.

SITE DESCRIPTION: Approximately 11. SHELLY ROCKS 270m of exposed vertical chalk cliff, reaching a maximum height of 2m. The MAIN FEATURES; Mixed sediment of cliff is undercut at its base giving way to a boulders, cobbles, gravel and sand. seabed of fine sand and pebbles. The vertical face and upper horizontal surfaces SITE DESCRIPTION: An extensive area are the most densely covered by marine of shallow boulders, cobbles and mix of life with hydroids, foliose red algae, gravel/shell sand on chalk bedrock or sponges and bryozoans. There are also exposures of grey clay. This is typical of numerous small holes made by boring much of the seabed off West Sussex and piddocks. A small group of burrowing sea this area has been selected because of the cucumbers were found occupying wide range of seabed types found in a abandoned holes (in 1990) and are relatively small area. There are a rich believed to be the only record of this variety of sessile animal species where the species in the eastern part of the Channel, seabed is stable and patches of clean although they have not been recorded ground with little attached life where it is since then. The cowrie Trivia arctic is mobile. Kelp, bootlace weed and other common in some areas and, although algae may provide 80-90% cover during are not as common as one the summer months. Boring organisms might expect, fish such as bib, poor cod, including piddocks and sponges are found ballan wrasse and the goldsinny wrasse are on the chalk cobbles and flint cobbles are frequently seen. dominated by growths of the leafy bryozoan (Flustra), seasquirts and 10. WORTHING LUMPS sponges. Mobile life includes hermit crabs, common whelks, and several species of MAIN FEATURES: Chalk cliff with small crabs as well as butterfish, small juvenile boulders, gravel and sand. Important area gobies and flatfish such as plaice and sole. for wintering red-breasted mergansers. Lumpsucker fish come into these shallow waters to lay their eggs early in the year. SITE DESCRIPTION: Two northerly- Cuttlefish may also be found at the site facing chalk cliff exposures ranging in around the same time. height from 2-3m, separated by an area of pebbles/gravel/sand approximately 200- 12. THE WALDRONS REEF 300m wide off the coast of Worthing (West Sussex). On a national basis, MAIN FEATURES: Sandstone reef with sublittoral exposures of chalk are rare, large boulders. though they are relatively common off the Sussex coast. This site probably represents SITE DESCRIPTION: An extensive area the best exposures of sublittoral chalk of sandstone bedrock outcrops with cliffs in Sussex. boulders and areas of cobbles, pebbles, gravel and sand offshore to east of Bognor The cliff formation provides a wide range Regis (West Sussex). The rock has eroded of microhabitats with an associated to form many fissures, crevices, overhangs 8 and variously shaped holes. The site is 14. OUTER MULBERRY HARBOUR regarded as portraying many features of UNIT sandstone reefs. Jumbled masses of large angular boulders can be found in certain MAIN FEATURES: Wreckage of World areas providing a range of horizontal, War Two Mulberry units on seabed of vertical and undercut surfaces. The precise pebbles, gravel & silty sand. origin of these boulders, known as ‘sarcens’, is much debated. One theory is SITE DESCRIPTION: Artificial reef that they were deposited as drift-ice providing a hard and stable surface, with melted during a glacial phase, another that inclined sheltered and exposed surfaces on they are discarded ballast stones from a flat seabed of gravel, sand, shells and early shipping. Pink calcareous algae pebbles. The uppermost surfaces are encrust much of the bedrock. Foliaceous colonised by kelp while foliose red algae algae with sparse, stunted kelp plants dominate the horizontal unshaded dominate the uppermost surfaces. The site surfaces. The wreckage is heavily is particularly rich in sponges, with 24 colonised by a low faunal turf of hydroids species recorded, including some rarities. and bryozoans as well as occasional The variety of invertebrate species is sponges and anemones. Plumose poorer than one might expect but anemones and soft coral dominate the crustaceans are common. Cuttlefish have overhanging wall. Jewel anemones and been seen on numerous occasions and fish Devonshire cup corals have been recorded seen around the reef include ballan wrasse, here. Large shoals of fish surround the goldsinny and tompot blennies. The areas wreck, particularly bib, but also blennies, of mixed sediment support burrowing gobies and goldsinny wrasse. anemones, slipper limpets, bryozoans, stalked sea squirts and hermit crabs. 15. H.M.S NORTHCOATES

13. INNER MULBERRY HARBOUR MAIN FEATURES: Wreck in deep water. UNIT SITE DESCRIPTION: Wreck of fishing MAIN FEATURES: Wreckage of World vessel converted for minesweeping duties War Two Mulberry units on seabed of in World War Two. The wreck remains pebbles, gravel & silty sand. largely intact, upright on a seabed of silty gravel and coarse shell fragments. The SITE DESCRIPTION: on the coast of communities present are typical of many West Sussex between Bognor Regis and deep-water wrecks found off the coast of Worthing. An artificial reef of steel- West Sussex. A turf of bryozoans and reinforced concrete which has eroded in hydroids dominates the vertical surfaces. places to expose steel rods and interior There are also a few patches of flotation compartments accessible through Devonshire cup corals and jewel open manholes. The surfaces support a anemones, which are of special note as substantial growth of kelp and are they are more common in the clearer water colonised by sessile organisms that are of the western , and are characteristic of a typical exposed rocky therefore at the eastern edge of their shore/shallow infralittoral community. known distribution. Other anemones, soft This includes barnacles and mussels in the corals and sponges also grow on the wreck shallowest parts with red algae, sponges while the surrounding seabed is colonised and sea squirts in deeper waters. The by sandmason worms, mussels, burrowing internal surfaces are colonised by plumose anemones and the finger bryozoan. An anemones and the native oyster (a unusual record was a small colony of Biodiversity Action Plan priority species). zoanthid anemones, thought to be Frequently seen fish include the ballan Epizoanthus couchii, partially buried in wrasse, goldsinny wrasse, corkwing the gravel. The wreck has many fish wrasse, and pollack. associated with it with bib and poor cod the most common. 9

16. MIXON HOLE tops of the shallowest boulders may be colonised by kelp plants and an assortment MAIN FEATURES: Underwater cliff off of red foliose algae. In deeper water Selsey Bill (West Sussex). hydroids and bryozoans are more dominant with occasional anemones and SITE DESCRIPTION: Clay cliff on the soft corals, sponges and sea squirts. The northern side of the Hole extending to a surrounding seabed is muddy sand, gravel pebble/boulder/shell seabed. The Hole is and shells. believed to be a segment of an ancient river gorge swept clear by tidal currents. 18. SHOAL OF LEAD The upper part of the cliff is a cap of limestone bedrock, which breaks the water MAIN FEATURES: Current-swept area at low water spring tides. At around 4m it with overfalls. forms a ledge with loose limestone slabs covered by foliose red algae. Below this SITE DESCRIPTION: Area of the soft grey clay of the main cliff is overfalls, 8km south-east of Selsey Bill, exposed, with numerous ledges, crevices on the eastern side of the Outer Owers and fissures. The unstable areas are where the seabed drops steeply from 0- uncolonised. Other areas are extensively 67m. This feature is believed to be the bored by piddocks, with many crustaceans only example of its kind in the British and fish on the ledges and in shoals off the Isles. cliff. Hydroids, keel worms and sea squirts have colonised the cobbles and small 19. POOLE BAY boulders near the base of the cliff. There is a less impressive and smaller cliff on the MAIN FEATURES: Open bay with mixed southern side of the Hole. The clay cliff is sediments. Nationally important for red- possibly a unique feature. It is also of breasted mergansers and several species of interest to marine archaeologists because grebe. of the remains of worked stone at its base known to date from Roman times. SITE DESCRIPTION: The area is sheltered from the prevailing south-west 17. BRACKLESHAM BAY AND winds. It has a mixed, very gently sloping BRACKLESHAM BALLS substratum, mostly of sand mixed with gravel, stones and shells. From MAIN FEATURES: Boulder-sized Hengistbury Head hard ironstone reef concretions embedded in level, mixed extends south-east for 5km. Two species sediment. of maerl (A Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat) occur in the Bay off SITE DESCRIPTION: Area of sand and Handfast Point. This is their most easterly gravel with clay outcrops forming ridges known location in the English Channel. across the seabed. The ridges are up to 1m There is a rich associated fauna dominated high and in some areas the clay is capped by polychaetes and amphipods. The Ross by limestone. Common species include coral is well represented off the Purbeck piddocks, slipper limpets, and tube worms coast. Off Durlstone Head, below on the stable gravel and sandmason worms Swanage Bay, cetaceans are often sighted in the deeper sand. The ‘Bracklesham at particular times of the year and include Balls’ are spherical and hemispherical a small, regularly recorded group of bottle- boulders up to 1.5m in diameter which are nosed dolphins together with large in two areas in Bracklesham Bay in numbers of migrating individuals, and approximately 6m depth of water. They smaller numbers of common dolphins and are believed to be concretions of the pilot whales. Seals are also occasionally Myocarida Bed and resemble ‘shells seen. This site is part of the Poole Bay and embedded in clay’ standing proud of the Isle of Purbeck Sensitive Marine Area. seabed. They provide a most unusual, Nationally important populations of red- though not unique, geological feature. The breasted mergansers and great crested 10 grebes winter, and the area also holds Mediterranean red band fish are also found more than 1% of the UK’s wintering in the harbour. The subtidal rocky slavonian, black-necked and red-necked surfaces are densely covered by a variety grebes. of foliose, filamentous and encrusting algae. The black goby, snakelocks 20. KIMMERIDGE anemone, the rare southern anemone Aiptasia mutabilis, and the very rare MAIN FEATURES: Ledges and rocky black-faced blenny are all found here. The reefs interspersed with sandy areas. large assembly of molluscs in the harbour is particularly unusual and includes a SITE DESCRIPTION: Shallow water number of localised and rare species of extends from the shore to a submerged turrids, tusk shells and bivalves. The collapsed former cliff line 1-2km offshore. substratum is coarser at the entrances The site is mid-way between the eastern where there is more current. The area has a and western basins of the Channel with nationally important wintering population species characteristic of each on both hard of red-breasted mergansers and small and soft substrates. numbers of red-necked and black-necked grebes. This site is within the Portland & A turf of small bushy red seaweeds, often Fleet Sensitive Marine Area. interspersed with large numbers of snakelocks anemones, covers the ledges in 22. ISLE OF PORTLAND (Blacknor the shallow waters of the bay. Kelp is Point – Portland Bill) restricted to a few small areas where the seabed is firm enough to provide a secure MAIN FEATURES: Rocky ledges and hold. Common fish are ballan wrasse and boulder seabed down to sand and gravel. corkwing wrasse as well as pollack and two-spot gobies. Shoals of sandeels also SITE DESCRIPTION: Limestone rocks in frequent the area. The ledges provide the form of large blocks, with small caves suitable habitat for many crustaceans such and overhangs, and boulders grading into as lobsters, squat lobsters, edible crabs and sand and gravel at over 30m. At Pulpit spiny spider crabs. Further offshore the Rock the ledges drop off into deep gullies. vertical rock surfaces, caves and A current-swept area supporting a rich overhangs of the ledges are colonised by variety of life including hydroids, sea kelp, foliose red algae, sponges, squirts and sponges and showing classic tubeworms, bryozoans, anemones and cup zonation from shallow to deep water corals. This site is within the Poole Bay within a short horizontal distance. During and Isle of Purbeck Sensitive Marine Area. the summer months various species of wrasse are common. 21. PORTLAND HARBOUR Portland Bill is at the eastern limit of the MAIN FEATURES: Sheltered harbour outer basin of the English Channel, and with fine mud, with patches of coarse sand consequently a number of southern species and pebbles. Nationally important for reach their eastern limit of distribution wintering red-breasted mergansers. within the area. Some species with a southern distribution such as the black- SITE DESCRIPTION: Sheltered, enclosed faced blenny are rarely recorded elsewhere water mass, of high scientific interest for in Britain. This site is within the Portland its marine communities and species. In & Fleet Sensitive Marine Area. particular, it contains rich sediment communities, including mud plains 23. LYME BAY dominated by the sea pen Virgularia mirabilis and large populations of the MAIN FEATURES: Shallow, open bay Mediterranean polychaete Sternappis with bedrock and mudstone reefs, areas of scutata. The southern species of sea squirt, cobbles, boulders, gravel, dead maerl and Phallusia mammillata, and the 11 sand. Important populations of little and The sandy areas within the Bay are home common terns. to populations of sandeels, which in turn support little and common terns in the SITE DESCRIPTION: The Bay spans part summer months The site has been of the transition zone between the cold identified as a Sensitive Marine Area. Boreal and warmer Lusitanean biogeographic provinces of the north-east 24. TORBAY TO START POINT Atlantic and contains a range of habitats and a considerable diversity of community MAIN FEATURES: underwater bedrock types within a small area. The area is walls, tideswept pebbles and cobbles, relatively shallow and gently shelving with steeply-sloping muddy channel, exposed a substratum predominantly of sand, dead open coast, intertidal and sublittoral caves, maerl and gravel, which in places forms and tidally swept channels. large ripples. There are several areas of mixed bedrock and, especially moving SITE DESCRIPTION: The seabed at the further offshore, extensive bedrock reefs entrance to the Dart supports diverse and areas of cobbles and small rocks or communities of sponges, hydroids, boulders overlying the sand, dead maerl bryozoans and ascidians as well as a and gravel. At Beer Home Ground there variety of red algae. Large colonies of are mudstone reefs forming short cliffs sponges often bind stones together as well and ledges colonised mainly by hydroids as encrusting shells and cobbles. Cup and tubeworms. corals and soft coral occur on the more stable cobbles while bryozoans are also The reefs within the bay form one of the common. Outside the estuary there is a most easterly locations for a number of rich and diverse fauna comprising a large Mediterranean-Atlantic species, such as number of encrusting and sessile the pink sea fan Eunicella verrucosa (a organisms including many sponges, Biodiversity Action Plan priority species bryozoans and tubeworms. In sections which is also listed on Schedule V of the affected by sand scour certain tunicates are Wildlife & Countryside Act, 1981). These abundant. Offshore, fine sediment areas species are found in very high densities support animal communities dominated by along with a very rich epifauna, including brittlestars, feather stars and starfish as a high diversity of sponges. The saw-tooth well as an abundance of anemones and the ledges are one of only a few sites in Great sandmason worm. The caves at Berry Britain where the southern sunset coral Head are unique, ranging from exposed Leptopsammia pruvoti (a Biodiversity sites in sea cliffs to extremely sheltered Action Plan priority species) has been sites, and a wide range of species have found. The reefs also support large been recorded in them. The subtidal area numbers of cuckoo wrasse and small off Torbay is relatively uniform muddy shoals of bib and poor cod. Where cobbles sand, supporting a diverse and abundant and boulders overlie level sand, dead burrowing faunal community dominated maerl and gravel such as at Eastern Heads by bivalve molluscs and various and Lane’s Ground there is a high , and good examples of beds diversity of erect and branching sponge of eel grass. The tidally swept channels species with a dense turf of bryozoans, around Flat Stone, Ore Stone and hydroids and tunicates covering cobbles Thatcher’s Rock harbour rich and varied and boulders. Large colonies of the Ross communities on extensive limestone coral, soft coral and sea fans are common. ledges and vertical faces. This site has Where sandy patches exist, scallops and been identified as a Sensitive Marine Area. burrowing cucumbers are found. Sublittoral sediments support an extremely 25. BOLT TAIL TO START POINT diverse fauna, with over 400 taxa being recorded from grab samples. MAIN FEATURES: Steep-sided drowned river valley (ria), bedrock, fine and coarse sand mixed with shell gravel. Important 12 populations of a number of seabird streams. The top of the pinnacle is species. colonised by kelp and the walls with jewel anemones, pink seafans, soft corals and SITE DESCRIPTION: The - the solitary corals Parazoanthus and Kingsbridge inlet has a high diversity of Caryophyllia. All five species of wrasse littoral and sublittoral habitats with are common at the site. associated diverse communities and several species restricted in their 27. EDDYSTONE ROCKS (including distribution in Britain. It is of significant HANDS DEEP) marine biological importance for the presence of many southern species. There MAIN FEATURES: Rocky reefs are also a number of rarely recorded algae surrounded by soft sediments. found in the area including the nationally important red algae Gracilaria foliifera. SITE DESCRIPTION: The Eddystone The sublittoral area of the inlet is mainly Rocks are comprised of rare hard pink silty hard sand with pebbles and shell and rise from an area of level gravel. Areas of exposed bedrock seabed 50-60m below chart datum. The penetrate the silt at various points along Eddystone breaks the surface whereas the sides and in the middle of the channels. Hands Deep is permanently submerged The sublittoral area between Prawle Point with the shallowest part at around 12m. and Start Point supports dense forests of Flat-faced, angular vertical cliffs with kelp and a lush turf of red algae, sea overhangs dominate the underwater squirts, sponges and bryozoans. The scenery and are colonised by a turf of offshore sands have rich communities of bryozoans, hydroids, anemones and echinoderms, molluscs and crustaceans. extensive patches of jewel anemones. A The bed of the main channel from the high proportion of southern species are entrance to Salcombe Harbour to the Salt present here such as the pink sea fan (a stone is of mixed sediments with stones Biodiversity Action Plan priority species and shells. The communities are very rich which is also listed on Schedule V of the in algae and animals including several rare Wildlife & Countryside Act, 1981), the or unusual species. Castle Rocks, within red soft coral Alcyonium glomeratum and the Salcombe inlet, has an exceptional sea cucumber Holothuria forskali. Similar flora and a rich fauna including many communities occur off Hands Deep. The sponges and crustaceans. Basking sharks seabed immediately surrounding the rock (a Biodiversity Action Plan priority pinnacles ranges from coarse muddy sand species) are often seen in the summer to fine gravel, with patches of shell gravel months, and the area is one of the top sites where there is tidal scour. Bivalves as in Britain for surface sightings of this well as brittlestars and the green sea urchin species. dominate these sediments. The substratum is more uniform and composed of clean There are small breeding populations of fine sand to the south and east. This site is fulmar, cormorant, shag, lesser black- within the Sound Sensitive backed gull, great black-backed gull, Marine Area. herring gull and kittiwake. Substantial numbers of auks feed offshore during the 28. THE WHELPS winter. The site has been identified as a Sensitive Marine Area. MAIN FEATURES: Rocky reefs.

26. HILSEA POINT/FAIRYLAND SITE DESCRIPTION: Large outcrops of slate-like rock in shallow water giving MAIN FEATURES: Rocky pinnacle. way to gently sloping sediment broken by parallel reefs 1-2m high. Gullies with SITE DESCRIPTION: Offshore rock evidence of scouring. Shallow reefs pinnacle, with central ‘canyon’ running supporting foliose red algae extensively parallel to the coastline, affected by tidal covered with silt. Soft coral, sea 13 cucumbers, the common sea urchin and are razor shells, the sea potato and spiny starfish are abundant. The site is sponges. Shoals of sand eels, plaice, within the to Lizard Point dragonet, goby and rays frequent the area. Sensitive Marine Area. Where there is sand covered rock this is typically colonised by red and brown algae 29. THE BIZZIES with some kelp. A belt of kelp overlying a mixed community of red and brown MAIN FEATURES: Rocky reefs and seaweeds typically dominates other rocky boulder slope. areas. At greater depths there is an abundance of sponges and anemones, SITE DESCRIPTION: Bedrock and while crustaceans make up a major part of boulder slope with gullies. A kelp park the bottom-living mobile population. with abundant red foliose algae and, on the Large numbers of wrasse, pollack, young rock walls, soft coral and a bib, poor cod and pipefish occur among hydroid/bryozoan turf. In deeper water the kelp forest. there is an abundance of feather stars. Occasional sea fans in the gullies but Important for wintering long-tailed ducks, many on the boulder plain at 30m (This is red-breasted mergansers, and small a Biodiversity Action Plan priority species numbers of divers and grebes. This site which is also listed on Schedule V of the has been identified as a Sensitive Marine Wildlife & Countryside Act, 1981). The Area. site is within the Dodman Point to Lizard Point Sensitive Marine Area. 32. NORTH CORNWALL (Trevose Head to Boscastle) 30. THE MANACLES MAIN FEATURES: Rocky reefs, boulders MAIN FEATURES: Rocky reefs and cobbles and sandy seabed. pinnacles surrounding by soft sediments. SITE DESCRIPTION: A variety of SITE DESCRIPTION: A small group of habitats on soft and hard substrata and rocks lying about 2km offshore that are ranging from exposed to sheltered exposed to strong tidal currents. These conditions. Bedrock is exposed down to conditions have encouraged a dense 20m with pinnacles, overhangs and deep growth of sponges, hydroids and sea gullies. Scour occurs in places adjacent to squirts. The pink sea fan Eunicella areas of boulders, cobbles and sand. verrucosa (a Biodiversity Action Plan priority species which is also listed on The open coast has dense kelp forests in Schedule V of the Wildlife & Countryside shallow water with a high cover of Act, 1981) and the Ross coral Pentapora encrusting in exposed sites foliacea are present on the rocks and and an understorey of red algae in less elsewhere offshore in the area. The site is exposed sites. Where algae predominate, within the Dodman Point to Lizard Point animals, mainly bryozoans, are confined to Sensitive Marine Area. overhangs and vertical surfaces. Where wave action or tidal streams are strong 31. ST.IVES BAY hydroids and jewel anemones form distinctive populations. Below the algal MAIN FEATURES: Small bay which is zone there are large colonies of Ross coral, important for seaduck and grebes. soft coral, and the pink sea fan (a Biodiversity Action Plan priority species SITE DESCRIPTION: A small bay 6.5km which is also listed on Schedule V of the across between two rocky promontories. A Wildlife & Countryside Act, 1981). The small estuary enters the Bay and there is a area has a moderately rich fish fauna with small tidal harbour. Much of the seabed in species typical of inshore rocky areas well the bay is sandy with a limited fauna represented. The two most common where it is mobile. Buried within the sand species are pollack and ballan wrasse. 14

Where patches of sand are present, sand 35. NORTH DEVON (Morte Point to eels, dragonets and the leopard spotted Combe Martin) goby may be found. Further north towards Tintagel Head and Boscastle the kelp zone MAIN FEATURES: Mixed rocky and soft is wider. Below this bryozoans with a sediment habitats. variety of sponges dominate the rock faces. Grey seals breed in the vicinity of SITE DESCRIPTION: This stretch of Pentire Peninsula, in particular in the coast forms the transition between the caves below Rumps Point. This site has south-west open coast and the Bristol been identified as a Sensitive Marine Area. Channel. Many species reach the eastern limit of their distribution here. There are 33. MEROPE ROCKS rich intertidal communities and a wide variety of habitats and species found in the MAIN FEATURES: Rocky islet. sublittoral including a few west coast or Mediterranean-Atlantic species. Below the SITE DESCRIPTION: The eastern rocks algal zone the surfaces are colonised by are exposed to wave action and semi- encrusting and erect bryozoans, sponges, exposed to tides. The seabed is one of keel worms, barnacles and, in places, the broken bedrock, boulders with open and dahlia anemone. The substratum at steep-sided gullies, and vertical and sheltered sites at Smallmouth consists of overhanging surfaces often forming thick mud and contains the burrow crab pinnacles. There is a bed of sea-oak at 5m, and a species of burrowing anemone. Seals and then the area is dominated by and porpoises can sometimes be seen in foliaceous red algae at 7m. Dense colonies Rockham Bay. This site has been of bryozoans and jewel anemones grow identified as a Sensitive Marine Area. under overhangs. To the north, the rocks are more exposed. The topography is very 36. CYMYRAN STRAIT (Inland Sea) broken with pinnacles, canyons, overhangs and steep-sided gullies as well as plains of MAIN FEATURES: Shallow partially cobble and boulder with low reefs. enclosed sea area. Hydroids and jewel anemones are abundant on the steep faces and SITE DESCRIPTION: Narrow channel overhangs. The site is within the North which separates Holy Island from Cornwall Sensitive Marine Area. mainland Anglesey. It consists of two broad, shallow basins, a long, narrow but 34. KELLAN HEAD complex intertidal basin and the Alaw estuary. The enclosed nature and the large MAIN FEATURES: Rocky seabed with extent of intertidal habitats means that gravel and soft sediment areas. most of it is extremely sheltered from wave action. There is an unusual tidal SITE DESCRIPTION: The nearshore area regime and consequent peculiarities in the consists of steep, mainly unbroken zonation patterns of its biota. The southern bedrock, with some deep-sided gullies, end of the inlet has an area of medium-fine overhangs and vertical faces. Further out sand with an infaunal community this grades into an area of sand and then characterised by polychaetes, cockles and large boulders and rock outcrops with very high numbers of the amphipod gravel, sand and some mud between. The Corophium arenarium. North of Plas site is semi-exposed to wave action and Cymyran the clean, mobile sand and supports dense colonies of bryozoans and gravel has sparse polychaetes. Where the hydroids. Kelp colonises the shallow channel narrows between two rocky depths. The site is within the North outcrops the shore is colonised by fucoid Cornwall Sensitive Marine Area. algae and dense barnacles, limpets and large mussels on the steep vertical bedrock. The sublittoral fringe is largely smothered by sand and is influenced by 15 strong tidal streams running through the narrows. The community here is characterised by algal species that are tolerant of sand-scour. On the west shore of Beddmanarch Bay the upper shore has a dense bed of seagrass on muddy sand. The lower shore is swept by strong tidal flow from a culvert and is of a clean gravel and sand. No sublittoral information is available for the Inland Sea.

37. YNYSOEDD Y MOELRHONIAID (THE SKERRIES)

MAIN FEATURES: Important tidal rapids which are also important for terns.

SITE DESCRIPTION: 3km off the north- west coast of Anglesey. Tidal rapids are much more common in the UK than in other European countries because of the greater tidal ranges found around our . These rapids encompass a diverse range of marine habitats, which support a fantastic array of wildlife including hydroids (sea firs), bryozoans (sea mats), ascidians, brittlestars and sub-tidal mussels. The whole area is important for breeding terns (sandwich, roseate, common and arctic), which fish offshore.