The coastal strip is enhanced and restored to safeguard key habitats that protect rare and vulnerable species and space is created for cliff top and intertidal habitats as the coastline retreats
Dorset’s coastal habitats include cliffs, rocky shores, saltmarshes, sand dunes, shingle and sandy beaches, intertidal habitats and seagrass meadows. The priority is to restore these habitats to good condition, support natural processes to take place, and build resilience to future pressures such as erosion, sea level rise, tourism, recreation and industry.

Protecting and enhancing the coastal strip is essential for the important species and ecosystems that depend on it. Restoration of historical coastal habitats, such as oyster reefs, that were destroyed by over exploitation a long time ago is particularly important.

The Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and its internationally recognised rocks, fossils and landforms supports a range of ecosystems, such as rocky and sandy shorelines, coastal saltmarshes and reedbeds, and deciduous temperate forests. Key coastal water bodies such as Poole, Christchurch, Portland, and Weymouth harbours, along with The Fleet, host a wide variety of wildlife in their mudflats, saltmarsh and shallow waters. Protection and recovery of nature in these harbours is closely linked to nature’s recovery along the river catchments that flow into them.

Cliff top habitats are particularly vulnerable to being squeezed by coastal retreat and should be given more room to spread and retreat landward. Similarly, intertidal habitats face pressure where rising sea levels meet man-made flood defences, creating new space for these habitats is essential. All flood defence and coastal infrastructure projects should embed nature recovery into their design from the outset, building ecological resilience into future coastal management.

Typical coastal species

Peregrine falcon
Peregrine falcon
Kelp
Kelp
Limpet
Limpet

Nature recovery in action

The Environment Agency, RSPB and Natural England are working together to adapt approximately 150 hectares of the moors at Arne into a diverse wetland habitat. With sea levels rising, important habitat for wildlife all around Poole Harbour could be lost over the next 30 years. Where rising waters press against fixed sea defences ‘coastal squeeze’ occurs, this means a loss of inter-tidal features such as mudflats and salt marsh. New places for coastal 
wildlife will need to be created to keep the natural features of the lost landscape, whilst flood risk to homes and businesses from the sea continues to be managed.
Moors at Arne
Photo credit: Environment Agency

Potential activities

See what activities people can carry out to help achieve this priority. You can view them all, or just look at the one most relevant to you. These activities are a guide and are not exhaustive, as there are many small activities involved in habitat management and restoring ecosystems.

The activities and Dorset’s nature recovery maps provide a starting point, but additional land management and ecological advice will often be needed to support activities on individual sites. 

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Select the sector you're interested in to see the relevant activities for this priority.

Explore all potential activities

Listed here are all the potential activities for this priority:
  • Reduce nutrients entering coastal waters through changes to farming practices, development and wastewater treatment
  • reduce pressures from recreational disturbance, for example, helping water sport users, tourists, wildlife spotters and coastal dog walkers understand how to enjoy the coast without disrupting sensitive habitats and species. For example, by continuing the work of BARI – The Bird & Recreation Initiative
  • Create new areas of intertidal habitats such as salt marsh and mudflats in response to sea levels rising against fixed flood and coastal erosion defences (coastal squeeze)
  • design habitat creation into flood defence and other coastal engineering works, for example, artificial reefs, rockpools, sand dunes and artificial nesting sites
  • create new coastal habitats inland as part of managed realignment to accommodate and compensate for the expected shift of coastal systems towards the land as sea levels rise
  • for coastal areas with high numbers of people visiting, use a mixture of methods to make more space for wildlife. For example, changing access patterns to give wildlife more space and providing alternative opportunities for people to connect with coastal nature, or creating areas for wildlife on nearby land that will be less disturbed, such as ground nesting habitat for birds on adjacent undisturbed fields
  • seek to restore lost coastal and intertidal habitats such as seagrass beds, oyster reefs, mussel beds, saltmarsh and sand dunes, as improvements in underlying environmental conditions allow
  • pull back from intensive farming in fields close to cliff edges, to create space for cliff top habitats and wildlife to survive and move as the coastline recedes through cliff falls and landslips
  • connect habitats along the coast with habitats inland and support wildlife corridors
  • create and enhance alternative sites for people to enjoy recreation, such as dog walking, to reduce pressure on sensitive coastal areas
  • tackle plastic pollution in coastal waters by promoting ways to reduce single-use plastic and microplastics and reducing litter left on beaches and further up the river catchment
  • enhance the coastal margin as a green corridor connecting habitats along the coast, as part of the Coastal Wildbelt initiative, the coastal margin spans from the South West Coast Path and the King Charles III England Coast Path to the mean low-water mark