Project part-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund)

The Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme


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The authors are solely responsible for the content of this report. Material included herein does not represent the opinion of the European Community, and the European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of it.
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Chowder Ness

Monitoring results

Accretion

In order for the site to support both mudflat invertebrates and saltmarsh plants, it was important that fine marine sediments would be imported into the site, as these would provide the ideal environment for intertidal flora and fauna. Furthermore such sediment import would ensure that the site would continue to increase in elevation as sea levels rise. Observations from previous managed realignments have shown that sites can accrete relatively rapidly immediately after a breach, but that elevation increases then tend to level off. At Chowder Ness, site elevation monitoring has so far followed a similar trajectory. To date, overall, the site has increased in elevation with the main change in elevation occurring in the initial two years following the realignment.

Invertebrates

The monitoring has shown that invertebrates have colonised this new sediment. In 2009, between 571 and 15,429 specimens were found per m² (belonging to between 2 and 6 species). The abundance, diversity and biomass of species in the mudflat have been increasing since the realignment has been implemented, and are now similar to the fronting, pre-existing, mudflat sites; in fact, average abundance within the samples collected in 2008 was greater than the fronting mudflats.


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Important to know

Reports / Measures / Tools

Report: Management measures analysis and comparison