The Chesil Beach area is extremely important for a wide variety of taxa. The beach itself supports characteristic shingle plants and rare invertebrates, while the enclosed Fleet Lagoon provides ideal habitat for specialist marine life, migratory waders and wintering waterfowl. Chesil experts explain why the site is so important for wildlife, and take a look
The restoration of lost species to Britain is never easy. In the past, most attention has been given to vertebrates, with notable successes such as the Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus and White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, and continuing efforts for the Pool Frog Pelophylax lessonae. Here, the authors report on a project to reintroduce an extinct bumblebee,
For such a remarkable and unique place that has featured on television on Countryfile, Springwatch and Coast in recent years, it is quite a surprise to find that so many people interested in wildlife have never heard of Orford Ness or have no idea where it is.
The Species Recovery Programme was a bold English Nature initiative that aimed to improve the status of rare and protected species until they became self-sustaining and secure enough for their legal protection to be removed (Whitten 1991).
Rye Harbour Nature Reseve lies on the shingle banks around the mouth of the River Rother, in the extreme south-east corner of East Sussex. Although it rises only to 6m above sea level at its highest point, it has a wide range of habitats and is home to a large number of species, including many
The Scaly Cricket Pseudomogoplistes squamiger Fischer is a most elusive member of the British Fauna. It was not discovered in the British Isles until a single female was captured on Chesil Beach in Dorset in 1949, and a further 28 years elapsed before the first male was discovered at the same site in 1977.
A unique combination of circumstances makes Dungeness perhps one of Britain's most important ecological sites. First, it is one of the largest areas of coastal shingle in the world, certainly in Europe, being over 2,000ha in extent. Secondly, it is a very rare example of a mature cuspate foreland, comprising a sequence of some 500
Most readers will be familiar with the narrow bands of fringing shingle that can be found at many popular holiday resorts. Indeed, shingle can be found on some 900km of the British coastline. Fringing shingle is a habitat whose invertebrate fauna is poorly known and whose invertebrate fauna is poorly known and whos botanical interest
