Natural England conducted an intertidal rocky shore survey of the Flamborough Head Special Area of Conservation (SAC) in August and September 2018. Intertidal rock is a designated subfeature of the Annex 1 Reefs feature. A team of surveyors from Natural England and partner organisations completed eight survey transects across the headland, repeating surveys completed by the University of Hull in 2010 (Musk et al. 2010).
Phase 1 walk over surveys were conducted to map the distribution of biotopes 30 m either side of the transect, and Phase 2 transects surveys were completed using 0.25 m2 quadrats following the methods set out by Wyn et al. (2000) and Davies et al. (2001). Biotopes were identified using the JNCC’s Marine Habitat Classification (MHC) system (JNCC, 2022).
The survey produced a high-quality biotope map and a shore profile figure for each survey location. The data and outputs will provide a comparison for future surveys and will be used to inform the condition status of the Intertidal Rock subfeature of the Flamborough Head SAC Annex 1 feature Reefs.