Durham Coast
| Durham Coast | |
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
![]() Blackhall Rocks on the Durham coast | |
| Country | England |
|---|---|
| Region | North East |
| District | Hartlepool, County Durham, Tyne and Wear |
| Location | NZ381685 to NZ495362 |
| Area | 765.41 ha (1,891.37 acres) |
| Notification | 1960 |
| Management | Natural England |
| Area of Search | Cleveland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear |
| Interest | Biological Geological |
| Website: Map of site | |
The Durham Coast is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham, England. Starting just south of Crimdon Dene, north of Hartlepool, it extends, with a few interruptions, northward to the mouth of the River Tyne at South Shields.
The area included in the SSSI includes six Geological Conservation Review sites, including Marsden Bay, a classic study area for coastal geomorphology since the 1950s.[1]
The SSSI is important both for its flora and fauna. It includes most of the paramaritime Magnesian Limestone vegetation found in Britain, a vegetation type that is unique to the Durham coast and that differs markedly from the grassland developed on similar strata elsewhere in lowland Durham.[1]
The Durham coast also supports a variety of birds, including nationally important populations of sanderling, wintering purple sandpiper and breeding little tern. There is also a rich variety of invertebrates, including colonies of the Durham Argus butterfly, Aricia artaxerxes salmacis, and the least minor moth, Photedes captiuncula.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 "Durham Coast" (PDF). English Nature. 1999. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
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