|
Index to pressures on shingle
The Habitat
Action Plan for coastal vegetated shingle summarises the problems
facing the conservation of this priority habitat as follows:
"2.3 Exploitation. Shingle structures have been regarded as a convenient
source of aggregates, and have been subject to varying degrees of extraction
resulting in severe alteration of morphology and vegetation (e.g. Dungeness
and Spey
Bay) or almost total destruction of major parts of the feature (e.g.
Rye
Harbour). Industrial plant, defence infrastructure and even housing
have been built on shingle structures (e.g. Dungeness, Orfordness,
Spey Bay), destroying vegetation and ridge morphology. At Dungeness water
is abstracted from the groundwater system; there is some evidence
of drought stress on the vegetation, but it is difficult to distinguish the
effects of water abstraction from those of gravel extraction."
There has been significant, direct and irreversible loss of shingle habitat
in the UK. These losses and the impact of activities associated with coastal
defence have had a major impact on the habitats and led in part to
the need for this guidance manual. Other activities alter, rather than destroy
the habitat and some of these can be reversed, offering opportunities for habitat
restoration. The more significant issues affecting coastal vegetated shingle
are listed below:
|
General guidance: The fact that many shingle structures appear
to be derived from sources of sediment deposited at the end of the last
glaciation make them particularly vulnerable to erosion
and loss. New sediment (from the erosion of cliffs) is very restricted
at most sites. The case of Hallsands
in Devon provides a salutary lesson in the dangers of removing these deposits.
When combined with stabilisation of eroding cliffs whole stretches of
coastlines can be adversely affected as on the coast of France between
the Seine and the Somme (see the BERM
study).
|
|
