Habitat point records from 1987-88 MNCR Berwick to Beadnell and the Farne Islands survey

The survey area between Berwick and Beadnell lies on the North Sea coast just south of the Scottish border. It includes Holy Island and Budle Bay. The area is essentially rural and attracts a number of tourists each year. There is considerable conservation interest within the area, particularly for its seabirds, seals and sand dune systems. The Lindisfarne NNR includes much of Holy Island and Budle Bay. The Farne Islands are an SSSI and are owned and managed by the National Trust. The mainland and Holy Island shores consist mainly of sandstones and shales, with narrow seams of limestone, whilst the Farne Islands are composed of an igneous quartz dolerite. The shores are predominantly of bedrock with more limited areas of boulder and cobble, mainly on Holy Island. Bedrock shores on the mainland are interspersed by stretches of fairly mobile sand. Large areas of finer sediment occur between Holy Island and the mainland and in Budle Bay. The seabed shelves gradually from the mainland and Holy Island, giving way to sediment plains and tideswept cobbles and boulders. More extensive areas of bedrock occur around the Farne Islands where deep water is present close inshore. The area is subject to a wide range of exposures to wave action and tidal streams. Eighty-six sites were surveyed in the littoral and sublittoral zones on both rocky and sedimentary substrata. The rocky shores were dominated by fucoid algae or by barnacles and mussels. The green alga Prasiola stipitata accompanied lichens on the Farne Islands. Rich communities were present on the lower shore on vertical limestone, on the mainland and Holy Island. Extensive forests of Laminaria hyperborea were present in the sublittoral, extending to 18 m below chart datum in the clear waters around the outer Farnes. More sheltered sites supported limited growths of Laminaria saccharina. Rock beneath and below the kelp was intensely grazed by the urchin Echinus esculentus and molluscs, with extensive areas dominated by encrusting algae. Foliose algae were generally rather sparse. Tubiculous amphipods covered rocks and algae at less exposed sites, whilst the tube worm Pomatoceros triquetor was conspicuous on vertical surfaces. There were fields of the soft coral Alcyonium digitatum in areas of strong tidal movement and beds of the brittle star Ophiothrix fragilis on less stable ground. Rich communities of hydroids, bryozoans and crustaceans were present on the extensive areas of tideswept cobble around the Farne Islands. On the sedimentary shores, there were large populations of the lugworm Arenicola marina and beds of the mussel Mytilis edulis, with the more mobile sands supporting populations of the sand eel Ammodytes tobianus. Large dense beds of the eel grass Zostera occurred on the Fenham Flats within Lindisfarne NNR. Sublittoral sediments were not surveyed in detail, but included rich communities off Budle Bay. The varied topography and geology produced a high habitat diversity within the area surveyed. The Farne Islands group and the extensive littoral sediments add considerably to this diversity. The species composition is typical of the North Sea, with generally low species within most habitats. The area has a high proportion of species with a 'northern' distribution and is thus interestingly situated near the southern limit for a number of these species. The nature conservation importance of the area has been assessed, with a number of habitats and species considered to be of regional, national or international importance. Records currently considered sensitive have been removed from this dataset.

Organization: Joint Nature Conservation Committee