Page 164 - Alderney Regional Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy: Environmental Report

Alderney Regional Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy:
Environmental Report
5.6 Nature Conservation
5.6.1 Baseline Description
Designated Sites: There are three designated sites for nature conservation within Alderney
and its territorial waters as well as a site that is nationally recognised as important and would
meet the criteria for designation under the EC Habitats Directive. These are shown in Figure 20
and detailed below.
1) Alderney West Coast and the Burhou Islands Ramsar Site: The site covers 15,629
hectares and comprises the western coast of Alderney and adjacent shallow waters and the
islets of Burhou, Les Etacs and Ortac, including the tidal stream body known as The Swinge
(ARE, 2011).
The site qualifies under Ramsar Criterion 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 (JNCC, 2005), and comprises a
mixture of habitats including the following wetland types:
ƒ Permanent shallow marine waters (20% of site);
ƒ Marine subtidal aquatic beds (45% of marine area);
ƒ Rocky marine shores (30% of site);
ƒ Maritime cliff and slopes; and
ƒ Sand, shingle and pebble shores (5% of site).
The rocky islets and cliff faces are highly important breeding areas for Northern gannet Morus
bassanus. This qualifying species regularly supports during breeding season, 5950 pairs based
on two islets, representing 1.5% of the breeding population. Based on recent photographic
survey counts, this figure is closer to 7,800 pairs and 2.3% of the world population (Alderney
Wildlife Trust pers. comm., June 2013). Other qualifying bird species include Atlantic puffin
Fratercula arctica, Fulmar Fulmarus glacialus, Herring Gull Larus argentatus and European
storm-petrel Hydrobates pelagicus . The breeding colonies of gannet and storm petrel on
Alderney are the only ones in the Channel Islands (see Section 5.4.1). There is a seal colony to
the north of Burhou Island (see Section 5.5.1) and many rare species are found in the marine
area of the site. Green ormers Haliotis tuberculata are present within the Ramsar site and are
of particular significance as part of the heritage of the Channel Islands, as they are found
nowhere else in the British Isles (JNCC, 2005). The sand, shingle and pebble shores within the
Ramsar site also support a number of bird species, particularly overwintering populations of
Oystercatcher Haemoptus ostrlegus, Curlew Numenius arquata, Little Egret Egretta garzetta ,
Turnstone Arenaria interpres and other wading birds. One beach, Platte Saline, supports
Alderney’s only breeding population of Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula (Alderney Wildlife
Trust, 2012).
Seagrass beds of Zostera also occur within the Ramsar site that are of considerable ecological
importance, supporting a high density and diversity of associated flora and fauna. Seagrass
beds provide important nursery grounds for fishes and birds, and the binding effect of seagrass
roots acts to stabilise sediment and prevent erosion (Alderney Wildlife Trust, 2012).
R/4001/7 140 R.2129