The Nature of Somerset's Coast

About this book

Somerset's coast runs from the River Avon, just north of Portishead, south and west for 64 miles to the remote beach at Glenthorne on the Devon border.

Along this coast a remarkably diverse landscape unfolds, with dramatic cliffs, shingle banks, saltmarsh and sand dunes, and huge sandflats and mudflats exposed at low tide. The coast here also has a dazzling array of marine life in lower shore rockpools, a huge diversity of invertebrate life in its sand dunes and saltmarshes, plus a wonderful flora on the cliff tops and grassy headlands. Of the four major estuaries used by wintering birds in the South West, the Severn has by far the largest number with up to 100,000 birds present most winters, with Somerset’s coast hosting a large proportion of them.

The rich diversity of wildlife, seaweeds and marine life, flowering plants, mosses and liverworts, lichens and fungi, insects, spiders and other invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians, birds and mammals are all covered in The Nature of Somerset’s Coast, as well as chapters on habitats, geology and fossils.

Customer Reviews