natura 2000 standard data form - Suffolk Coastal District Council

Page 12 of 13
Condition of SSSI units
etc, and there seem to be established grassy tracks behind
the shingle ridge, plus the beach area is extensively used
with much trampling of the ridge line (see photos). There is
a concrete track running through the site which is
extensively used by vehicles despite prohibitive signage.
There is much trampling at the end of this track where it
approaches the beach, plus evidence of fires (popular with
fisherman). The open vehicular access to the unit presents
a real risk to the SSSI. There is an ongoing issue of people
driving over the vegetation and shingle and old tracks
could be seen (see photos). There is also a bungalow, The
Beacons, within the unit with access off the concrete track.
There is much trampling at the southern end of Unit (and
into Unit 33) where pedestrian access to the beach is taken
from the car park. Species composition was not met for the
strandline habitat or the more stable shingle, however
there were many characteristic species present outside the
quadrats and a good mosaic of habitats. No negative
species indicators. Due to the trampling, the site was
deemed to be in unfavourable condition.
Public
access/disturbance
Although there are good examples of vegetated shingle
across the unit it is heavily used by the public and this is
having a negative impact on the shingle vegetation. JNCC
guidelines recommend that there should be “no loss of
vegetated substrate within the habitat as a result of
anthropogenic activities” and therefore this unit should be
considered as unfavourable
Emma Hay 33 1009321 40.42 25 Jun 2009 Unfavourable
declining
Supralittoral
sediment
Suffolk Suffolk
Coastal
East Of
England
Earth science feature
obstructed
The cliff at Gedgrave is a small exposure of Coralline Crag
about 3m in height. Sandwave facies (characterised by
cross stratification) overlie fossilferous silty crag. The site is
one of the only Coralline Crag localities to show lower
erosional contact of the sandwave facies.
Emma Hay 38 1022111 1.29 11 Nov 2009 Unfavourable
no change
Earth
heritage
Suffolk Suffolk
Coastal
East Of
England
Emma Hay 42 1028010 36.24 25 Sep 2009 Favourable The northern 1/3 of the unit is dominated by reed with
extensive patches of sea rush. The southern section has
patches of reed and sea rush but otherwise dominated by a
plateau of low – mid saltmarsh fronted by tidal mud to
seaward and grading into grassland on the landward side.
Pioneer communities of any extent were not seen during
the visit but large areas were difficult to access so it is
likely that they were missed. Extensive areas of mid-low
marsh could only be seen at a distance as they were very
difficult to access. The grassland and marsh seem to be
grazed but there was no evidence of any significant
poaching or damage of the saltmarsh. There was some
evidence that the front edge of the saltmarsh is eroding in
places but the saltmarsh was only backed by a sea wall on
a small section at the southern end of the unit. Otherwise
the saltmarsh is not subject to coastal squeeze against the
sea wall. In addition a study by IECS (2010) shows no
change in saltmarsh extent between 1999/00 to 2006/07 in
this unit. The tidal mud was being used by large numbers
of waders including: Curlew, Avocet and Black Tailed
Littoral
sediment
Suffolk Suffolk
Coastal
East Of
England
12/05/2011
http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/Special/sssi/reportAction.cfm?report=sdrt13&category=S&reference=1003208