The River Duddon and its estuary form part of the boundary of the historic county of Lancashire.
It opens into the Irish Sea to the north of the Furness peninsula; Walney Island forming part of its southern edge. Its 28 miles (45 km) of shoreline enclose an area of 13 square miles (35 km2), making it the second largest estuary in Cumbria after the Solway Firth and one of the six main estuaries in the historic county of Lancashire.
The Duddon Estuary is significant for natterjack toads. It supports one fifth of the national population of the rare amphibian that is only found at 50 sites in the UK, of which five are in the Duddon Estuary.
overwintering populations of knot, pintail and redshank; populations on passage of ringed plover and sanderling.[4]
In 2015, before the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, there were consultations on a successful proposal that Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary be combined in a new SPA. This would amalgamate the existing Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary SPAs and would add marine areas identified as being used by foraging terns.[5]
Floraedit
The estuary is botanically rich with salt marsh, sand dune and shingle communities, including a nationally rare shingle vegetation community at Haverigg Haws and North Walney.
Shingle species include sea sandwort, spear-leaved orache, sea rocket and sea kale. All the dune grasslands at Sandscale Haws, Haverigg Haws and North Walney support a rich flora with the rare dune helleborine.
Threatsedit
Development has had no significant effect on the nature conservation interest of the estuary, but it is at risk from coastal defence works, grazing by agricultural stock, sea level rise, recreational pressure and bait digging.[6]
Referencesedit
^"Duddon Estuary". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
^(PDF). Natural England. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
^"Important Bird and Biodiversity Area factsheet: Duddon Estuary". BirdLife International. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
duddon, estuary, sandy, gritty, estuary, river, duddon, that, lies, between, morecambe, north, lonsdale, coast, designationsramsar, wetlandofficial, namedesignated16, march, 1998reference, boat, duddon, estuarythe, river, duddon, estuary, form, part, boundary,. The Duddon Estuary is the sandy gritty estuary of the River Duddon that lies between Morecambe Bay and the North Lonsdale coast DesignationsRamsar WetlandOfficial nameDuddon EstuaryDesignated16 March 1998Reference no 938 1 Boat in the Duddon estuaryThe River Duddon and its estuary form part of the boundary of the historic county of Lancashire It opens into the Irish Sea to the north of the Furness peninsula Walney Island forming part of its southern edge Its 28 miles 45 km of shoreline enclose an area of 13 square miles 35 km2 making it the second largest estuary in Cumbria after the Solway Firth and one of the six main estuaries in the historic county of Lancashire The main settlements alongside the Duddon estuary are Haverigg Millom Foxfield Kirkby in Furness Askam and Ireleth and Barrow in Furness Contents 1 Biological importance 1 1 Fauna 1 1 1 Birds 1 2 Flora 1 3 Threats 2 References 3 External linksBiological importance editThe estuary as a whole was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest SSSI in 1990 with the amalgamation of five previously separate SSSIs Duddon Sands Sandscale Haws North Walney Hodbarrow Lagoon and Haverigg Haws 2 It is a Ramsar site Fauna edit The Duddon Estuary is significant for natterjack toads It supports one fifth of the national population of the rare amphibian that is only found at 50 sites in the UK of which five are in the Duddon Estuary Birds edit The Duddon Estuary is an Important Bird Area 3 Species to be seen include pintail red knot and common redshank with wintering waterfowl including common shelduck red breasted mergansers Eurasian oystercatchers ringed plover dunlin and Eurasian curlew In 1998 it was designated a Special Protection Area SPA under the Birds Directive It qualified under three criteria regularly there are over 20 000 wintering waterfowl breeding population of sandwich terns overwintering populations of knot pintail and redshank populations on passage of ringed plover and sanderling 4 In 2015 before the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum there were consultations on a successful proposal that Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary be combined in a new SPA This would amalgamate the existing Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary SPAs and would add marine areas identified as being used by foraging terns 5 Flora edit The estuary is botanically rich with salt marsh sand dune and shingle communities including a nationally rare shingle vegetation community at Haverigg Haws and North Walney Shingle species include sea sandwort spear leaved orache sea rocket and sea kale All the dune grasslands at Sandscale Haws Haverigg Haws and North Walney support a rich flora with the rare dune helleborine Threats edit Development has had no significant effect on the nature conservation interest of the estuary but it is at risk from coastal defence works grazing by agricultural stock sea level rise recreational pressure and bait digging 6 References edit Duddon Estuary Ramsar Sites Information Service Retrieved 25 April 2018 Duddon Estuary Cumbria PDF Natural England Archived from the original PDF on 27 April 2012 Retrieved 21 January 2011 Important Bird and Biodiversity Area factsheet Duddon Estuary BirdLife International Retrieved 2 September 2016 SPA description Duddon Estuary SPA Review site accounts Joint Nature Conservation Committee Retrieved 21 January 2011 Proposals for a Special Protection Area Natural England 2015 Retrieved 31 August 2016 Duddon Estuary PDF UK SPA data form Joint Nature Conservation Committee Archived from the original PDF on 13 October 2010 Retrieved 21 January 2011 External links editSPA designation Website of the Duddon Partnership Map sources for Duddon Estuary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Duddon Estuary amp oldid 1207801449, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
