South West England is famous for its cliffs with secluded beaches and fishing coves but other, totally different sorts of coastline include: muddy estuaries, home to thousands of shorebirds; flooded estuarine valleys called ‘rias’; shingle bars, often with lagoons behind them; and sand dunes. Even the cliffs are incredibly diverse. From the famous fossil beds of the Dorset coast right round to the Somerset the coast provides geological treasures. The eroding soft cliffs of south Dorset and Devon have amazing landslips and ‘undercliffs’ with tumbles of woodland and scrubland while the sheer granite cliffs in the far west support only bright encrusting lichens and perhaps nesting peregrine falcons.
Caves in the west provide excellent breeding sites for Grey Seals and the cliffs as far east as Portland have colonies of nesting seabirds. Below the high-tide line our coastline is equally diverse with fantastic rock-pooling, snorkelling or boating opportunities to see anemones, shoals of pilchards, beautiful cup-corals or maybe even a basking shark.
Some of the best Coastal Examples:
