Atlantic, Baltic and Arctic coastal shingle beach

This habitat includes coastal shingle deposits, made up of pebbles or small to medium-sized cobbles, in the Arctic, Atlantic and Baltic region. It includes the higher supralittoral (or geolittoral) part of beaches above mean high tide which do not contain marine plant and animal communities. Such deposits are the result of sedimentation in a high energy environment of relatively coarse material (diameter between 2 and 200 mm) derived from eroded cliffs or glacial moraines.  Shingle deposits are mostly found in previously glaciated areas, and are therefore more common along the northern Atlantic and Baltic shores than in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. The majority and the best examples are found on the British and French coasts with 30% of the beaches of England and Wales consisting of shingle. 

Variation in shingle deposits depends on geomorphology and coastal location. Typical shingle beaches are steep, because the waves easily flow through the coarse surface of the beach, decreasing the effect of backwash erosion and increasing the formation of sediment. One or two ridges can be noted, which indicate highest and mean tide or more on stormy beaches. The pebbles and cobbles often have been rounded by the wave activity, and the material usually consists of hard rocks, for example quartzite, granite and sandstone. Shores with larger cobbles, boulders or stable rocks are considered under B3.1a Rocky shores and cliffs. A mixture of shores with stones and finer material (shingles) between them is very common on moraine shores and in some locations extensive apposition beaches or cuspate forlands develop, where a series of consolidated parallel ridges of shingle structures are formed.  Much the largest site (over 2000 ha) is at Dungeness in Kent, southern England but other examples are found at Korshage in Denmark and on the German island of Rügen. 

Because of the movement of the pebbles and stones, due to the tidal waves, this is a very dynamic environment where almost no perennial plant species can live but stabilized deposits can trap sand, silt or clay and driftlines with organic material can occur when slightly more abundant but still very open vegetation may develop. On apposition beaches and in the northern Baltic Sea where these shores are derived from moraine with mixed grain size, there are also variants with more abundant vegetation.

Characteristic plant species are mostly perennial, halophytic and nitrophilous and include Crambe maritima, Glaucium flavum, Honckenya peploides, Beta maritima, Rumex crispus and in the northern regions Mertensia maritima, Leymus arenarius and Lathyrus japonicus (= L. maritimus). In the high arctic (Svalbard) typical species of stony beaches are Mertensia maritima, Cerastium alpinum, Cochlearia officinalis ssp. groenlandica and Sagina intermedia.  Where driftlines are deposited, Cakile maritima , Salsola kali and Atriplex species may grow, species also common on sand beaches. In the Baltic region, shores with less rounded stones of variable size occur which are included in this shingle habitat, although they are not shingles in a strict sense. These habitats are common on moraine shores and have an open structure of stones and boulders of different sizes (6-60 cm), with meadow-like patches between them. Vegetation cover is in general less than 50%. Besides more-or-less halophytic species, like Glaux maritima, Centaurium littorale, Centaurium pulchellum, Agrostis stolonifera and Plantago maritima, also species more characteristic for tall-herb communities are found, like Phalaris arundinacea, Vicia cracca, Sonchus arvensis var. maritimus, Valeriana sambucifolia ssp. salina, Angelica archangelica ssp. litoralis, Rumex crispus, Plantago major ssp. intermedia, Tanacetum vulgare and Veronica longifolia.  More stabilized shingle deposits with grassland, scrub and woodland are considered under Red List habitats B2.4, B2.5 and B2.6.

Shingle beaches are a hostile environment for most animal species, very dry with extreme fluctuations in temperature. However, some seabirds and waders nest on consolidated shingle and certain specialized invertebrates are associated with this habitat, mainly occurring on the higher, rarely inundated parts, in places where plants grow. The fauna includes a relatively large set of bees (particularly Bombus bumble bees) , wasps, ants, beetles and spiders, of which several are restricted to this habitat. 

Indicators of good quality:

• No disturbance of fauna, inclusing ground breeding birds and resting grey seals
• Presence of rare fauna species
• No intensive trampling or mechanical removing of shingle or vegetation
• Stability of plant populations

Synthesis of Red List assessment

Confidence in the assessment

Pressures and threats