St. Bees Head

Also within

Cumbria County Coast to Coast National TrailKing Charles Way - Whitehaven to Silecroft National Trail

Condition (Natural England)

Unit	Feature	Condition	Area (ha)	Assessed
NX944150	—	Favourable	27.35	2010-09-23
NX950124	—	Favourable	30.32	2010-09-23
NX956156	—	Favourable	28.74	2010-03-29
NX958117	—	Favourable	50.86	2010-03-31
NX962166	—	Favourable	19.98	2010-03-29
NX964111	—	Favourable	50.86	2010-03-31
NX969104	—	Favourable	50.86	2010-03-31

Climate exposure

This is about exposure to a nationwide pressure this habitat type carries — not a verdict on this site's own management.

Habitats

Bracken scrub, Coastal vegetated shingle, Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic · Rock Type: Breccia, Dolomite, Sandstone, Siltstone

Landscape processes: Coastal, Fluvial, Glacial

Birds & fish recorded

Birds

Species	Season
cormorant	Breeding
fulmar	Breeding
guillemot	Breeding
herring gull	Breeding
kittiwake	Breeding
peregrine	Breeding
puffin	Breeding
razorbill	Breeding
rock pipit	Breeding
sparrowhawk	Breeding

Description

Description St Bees Head is the most westerly point on the Cumbria coast, approximately one kilometre southwest of Whitehaven. The SSSI comprises a eight kilometres stretch of coast between St Bees and Whitehaven and encompasses the sheer cliff face, an area of cliff top grassland and the shoredown to the mean low water mark. The cliffs reach a height of 90 metres in places and expose the St Bees Sandstone, some sections of which are of great geological interest for their sedimentary structures. Further south, the cliffs at St Bees are of considerable importance for interpreting late Devensian glacial events and environmental conditions. Further north, in Saltom Bay the foreshore and adjacent areas provide the best exposure of the Permian rock sequence and marine strata in Cumbria and also the best available exposure of the Whitehaven Sandstone formation. The biological interest of the site is represented in a number of different 'habitats', natural cliff top grassland and heath, sheer cliff face and cliff fall rubble, shingle and wave cut platform. The outstanding interest of this area lies, however, in the sheer cliffs which provide the only breeding site on the coast of Cumbria for a variety of colonial sea birds. These include over 2,000 pairs of guillemot along with lesser numbers of fulmar, kittiwake, razorbill, cormorant, puffin, shag and herring gull. The cliffs are, in addition, the only breeding site on the entire coast of England for black guillemot. Several other birds are known to use this site regularly for breeding and these include the tawny owl, sparrowhawk, peregrine, raven and rock pipit, which is known to breed in only one other site in Cumbria. The rugged cliff face supports a diverse flora in the crevices and ledges of the crumbling sandstone. Towards the cliff base, sea pink or thrift Armeria maritima, scurvy grass Cochlaria officinalis and sea campion Silene uniflora are commonly found. Sea spleenwort Asplenium marinum occurs in damp crevices and rock samphire Crithmum maritimum and the rare rock sea lavender Limonium binervosum have also been recorded. Towards the top of the cliff, bloody cranesbill Geranium sanguineum, wood vetch Viccia sylvatica and orpine Sedum telephium are found and soft shield fern Polystichum setiferum occurs in several rocky recesses. Along the cliff top, on the dry sandy soils grassland with species such as dyer's greenweed Genista tinctoria alternates with patches of western gorse Ulex gallii, heather Calluna vulgaris and bracken Pteridium aquilinum. The geological interest of the site is concentrated in three main areas, between Fleswick and Rottington Beck and the cliffs of St Bees golf course in the south and around Saltom Bay at the North End of the site. The middle part of the Lower Triassic St Bees Sandstone is magnificently exposed at Fleswick Bay. The succession is dominated by fine to medium grained sandstones bounded by major erosion surfaces. Sedimentary structures include planar tabular and trough cross bedding, with minor cross laminated siltstone and mud rock intervals. The erosion surfaces separate a series of fining upwards rock units, which are similar to those of modern, sandy, braided river deposits. Further south the upper St Bees Sandstone is seen. Sedimentary structures such as infraformational conglomerates and major erosion surfaces are well developed and crossbedding here indicates fluvial transport towards the north north west. An important feature is the presence of soft sediment deformation structures which were produced by water escaping from the sediment after deposition. This is a key site for the demonstration of fluvial environments in rocks and Triassic age. The cliffs of the St Bees golf course and further south are a site of considerable importance for interpreting Late Devensian glacial events and Late glacial environmental conditions in northwest England. Coastal sections in a belt of hummocky deposits have over the years revealed a succession of interbedded tills, sands and gravels. Although interpretations differ in detail, parts of the succession have been referred to a re advance of Scottish ice on to the Cumbrian coast. The upper part of the succession is also significant in providing lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic evidence for Late glacial environmental conditions. Radiocarbon dates, pollen and coleoptera from a sequence of organic deposits together provide complementary evidence for the sequence and timing of environmental change during the Windermere Interstadial and Lock Lomond Stadial. St. Bees is therefore a key site both for assessing the evidence for a readvance of Scottish ice and for palaeo environmental studies. Some of the foreshore in Saltom Bay and adjacent areas e.g. disused quarries provide the best exposure of the Permian rock sequence in West Cumbria. A basal breccia brockram rests unconformably on the Whitehaven Sandstone Carboniferous and passes upwards into the Saltom Dolomite, an Upper Permian marine carbonate. The overlying St Bees Shales Upper Permanian are seen at Barrowmouth and southwards and ascending sequence in the lower part of the St Bees Sandstone shows a variety of sedimentary features typical of a fluvial environment. This is a key locality affording sections showing a variety of Lower and Upper Permian environments and facies. The northernmost section of foreshore, towards Whitehaven is the best available exposure of the Whitehaven Sandstone Formation, a sequence of red sandstones of middle Westphalian probably Westphalian C age. They were originally thought to lie unconformably on the underlying grey Coal Measures, but they are now believed to be conformable. Their reddening is thus probably linked with that of the Etruria Formation in the Midlands coalfields. The sedimentology of these strata have not been studied in detail, which will be essential if the exact relationship of the sandstones to the other British sequences is to be determined; and Saltom Bay provides the best available section for such a study. This is a site of considerable scientific significance. The coastal section at Barrowmouth is the best exposure of late Permian marine strata in Cumbria. The marine strata are represented by 4.6 metres of varied shallow water dolomite Saltom Dolomite Formation that was formed near the eastern edge of the Bakevellia Sea. Barrowmouth Beach is the only GCR site to display marine Permian strata from the eastern margin of the Bakevellia Sea. Common fossils in the sequence include the bivalves Bakevellia and Permophorus.

Species mentioned

Show the 26 species mentioned in the description, with red-list status ▾

Plant communities