Edible crab (Credit Paul Naylor)
Located on the southern side of Flamborough Headland, this area was established in 2010 as Britain's third No Take Zone and has now, due to its highly diverse nature, been recommended as a Marine Conservation Zone.
Soft coral such as dead man's fingers can be found on walls of outcrops and gullies here.
Extending 700 metres out to sea, this site covers 1km2 of seabed, 20% of which is intertidal and incorporates a mosaic of chalk, rock and sediment. Diverse communities occur including fine rippled sands: home to sand mason worms, razorshells, shore and harbour crabs as well as camouflaged flatfish, such as plaice.
Blue mussel beds form almost a complete carpet over hard chalk and pebbles, broken up by kelp holdfasts attaching tightly to the seabed. Animal turf, including antenna hydroids and the soft coral dead man's fingers, can be found on walls of outcrops and gullies.
This recommended Marine Conservation Zone is ON HOLD at the moment as it was put forward as a Reference Area.
We need you to urge DEFRA to consider designation of this site as an MCZ in a future tranche:
This site was recommended as a Reference Area (highly protected MCZ). Defra are now reviewing the designation of such site and The Wildlife Trusts will be inputting into this review. However, this site is already a no take zone. It is our view therefore that it should be formally brought into the proposed MCZ network and designated as an MCZ.
We need you to urge Defra to consider designation of this site as an MCZ in a future tranche.
Contains UKHO Law of the Sea data. Crown copyright and database right and contains Ordnance Survey Data Crown copyright and database 2012
Other nearby MCZs
Downloads
| Filename | File size |
|---|---|
| Flamborough Head No Take Zone.pdf | 249.02 KB |