Sea cliff - State 3 'Protected', over stable

In this state coastal protection structures have been built to slow down or prevent cliff erosion, which may have been moving towards continuous and rapid erosion (State 1). By so doing protect the capital assets present on the cliff and cliff top. Large sections of the coast are affected by this activity. Where the cliffed coast has been protected a variety of structures have been used including groynes, sea walls, revetments and the like.

Caption: Protected cliffs on the Suffolk coast. Note the variety of coast protection structures on the shore and the fenced areas along the base of the cliff. The cliffs become completely overgrown until the protection fails and wholesale erosion begins again.

In this state many of the attributes associated with semi-mobile (State 2) cliffs are compromised. This leads to a reduction in conservation interest of those speciallist species of the eroding mobile habitats characteristic of cliffs with intermediate rates of erosion. This state is considered separately from the more naturally stable, but periodically unstable sea cliffs where mature vegetation may develop including woodland (State 4).

Caveat: Eroding chalk and and some softer limestones are not included in this category of semi-mobile cliffs (State 2). Erosion rates are usually much slower. However these cliffs are also frequently obscured by coastal protection works especially in front of the coastal towns built on or near the chalk and limestone cliffs of the south and south east of England. In this context they overlap with the 'soft' rock category but are considered as 'hard' rock cliffs for the purposes of the guide.