Jncc coastal Directories Project Region 11 The Western Approaches

This chapter covers terrestrial habitats that are maritime
influenced, i.e. are distinctive because of their association
with the coast and coastal processes.  Adjacent to some parts
of the coast there are other semi-natural habitats of
importance that are not directly influenced by the sea,
including in this region principally heaths, ancient semi-
natural woodland, mines and quarries and their spoil heaps,
and islands.  
The island nature of the Isles of Scilly and Lundy results
in the occurrence there of both maritime and non-maritime
species and subspecies that are endemic to the islands or
have very limited UK distributions.  For example a
subspecies of the speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria
insula, occurs only on the Isles of Scilly, and the Isles are also
notable as one of the few sites in the UK for the lesser white-
toothed shrew Crocidura suaveolens.  Lundy is the only
known site in the world for the beetle Psylliodes luridipennis,
which feeds on Lundy cabbage Coincya wrightii, which is
endemic to the island.  The Isles of Scilly are a candidate
Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the EC Habitats
& Species Directive as the location of a number of rare
coastal habitats and the shore dock Rumex rupestris,
Europe’s most endangered dock species (see also 
sections
5.2
and
7.2.4
). 
The Lizard peninsula, one of only five Biogenetic
Reserves on the coast of Great Britain (see 
section 7.2.6
) and
a candidate SAC, is the location of a number of habitat types
that are extremely rare in a European context.  A priority
habitat under the EC Habitats & Species Directive,
Mediterranean temporary ponds, is found in this country
only on the Lizard and in the New Forest (Region 9), and
the serpentinite type of this habitat is confined to the Lizard.
Another habitat, dry coastal heathland with Cornish heath
Erica vagans and gorse Ulex europaeus (see also 
section 5.2
),
occurs in Europe only here, in the Basque country (France/
Spain) and at one site in Brittany.  On the Lizard this habitat
is of a unique variant dominated by Cornish heath Erica
vagans and black bog-rush Schoenus nigricans, reflecting the
underlying ultrabasic serpentinite rocks.  Areas of another
priority habitat under the Directive - Northern Atlantic wet
heaths with heather Erica tetralix - are also included in the
candidate SAC.  In exposed locations the Lizard heaths,
influenced by the strong south-westerly prevailing winds,
take on a characteristic ‘waved’ surface appearance.  Of the
other types of heath present on the region’s coast, North
Exmoor (Exmoor Coastal Heaths SSSI), Somerset, comprises
the best preserved and most extensive upland dry heath in
south-west England.  Coastal heaths in the region support
large numbers of common lizards, adders and slow-worms,
all three species protected under the Wildlife & Countryside
Act 1981 and the Bern Convention (see also 
section 5.6
).  
The mild climate of the region as a whole, and the Lizard
and Isles of Scilly in particular, coupled with low summer
rainfall, results in growing conditions that are characteristic
of southern Europe.  The diverse higher plant flora of the
Lizard is world famous and includes a large number of
species that are rare or scarce in the UK.  The Lizard
peninsula is also part of one of the richest stretches of
coastline for lichens and bryophytes (see also 
section 5.1
),
and for terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates (see also
section 5.3
).    
The centuries of mining and quarrying activity in the
region have created a wealth of distinctive and uncommon
habitats that augment the region’s resource of semi-natural
habitats.  Tin, lead, igneous rock and china clay workings in
Cornwall, coal mines in the Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire),
slate quarries in the Welsh counties and limestone quarries
throughout the region (except Cornwall) (see also 
section
9.3
) provide niches for a number of rare and scarce plant
and animal species.  Old mine workings and china clay
quarries are a characteristically Cornish landscape feature
supporting a unique and specialised lower plant flora.
Some bryophytes and lichens are specialists of soils that are
rich in heavy metals and may be virtually confined in the
UK to spoil tips of old lead and copper mines.  The
liverwort western rustwort Marsupella profunda, a priority
species under the Habitats & Species Directive, is confined
in Britain to a single former china clay site in Cornwall.
Mines and quarries in the region are also of interest for their
rare and scarce higher plants, and the wet habitats they
often contain are important for amphibians, as at former
brick pits in Bridgwater Bay and derelict mining areas in
Glamorgan and the Forest of Dean.  These and other derelict
industrial sites along some of the developed or degraded
parts of this coastline, for instance in Mid and South
Glamorgan, are also important for reptiles such as common
lizards and slow-worms (see also 
section 5.6
).
The region contains thirteen of the fourteen bat species
found in the UK, and several species make use of the
region’s caves and mines (see also 
section 5.13
).  For
example, greater and lesser horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus
ferrumequinum and R. hipposideros) occur in large numbers in
the Wye Valley/Forest of Dean.  The location, a candidate
SAC, contains by far the largest concentration of the lesser
horseshoe bats in the UK (26% of the total population) and a
significant proportion (6%) of the UK’s greater horseshoe
bats, in breeding colonies and hibernacula in disused coal
mines.  Their location in an extensive ancient woodland
with its rich supplies of invertebrate food contributes to the
bats’ abundance.   
Coastal woodlands in the region, especially on the
fringes of Exmoor and in sheltered ravines in Cornwall and
Devon, contain a distinctive range of oceanic (i.e. warmth-
and moisture-loving) lower plant species, particularly slime
moulds.  Many oceanic species (most notably some small
liverworts) are confined to coastal woodlands, which in this
region support more oceanic species than sites further north.
In addition, trees in some parklands in the region support a
good epiphytic lichen flora, and a number of woodlands in
the region are known to be important sites for lower plants.
Invertebrates find conditions in the undisturbed woodlands
of the ria valleys in Cornwall and Devon particularly
favourable (see also 
section 5.3
).  These woods are the only
known British location for the threatened weevil
Anchonidium unguiculare, which lives in leaf litter.  Other
scarce species occurring in the region’s coastal woodlands
include moths whose larvae feed on epiphytic lichens on
trees: the dotted carpet moth Alcis jubata is one example.
39
Chapter 3  Terrestrial coastal habitats

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