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Shores and islands

Click HERE to listen to Dr Pat Boaden and Dr Bob Brown as they explore the shore

Between the Tides

The strength of tidal current decreases from south to north, the shores to the east and north are generally more exposed to the prevailing winds and waves. This variation in conditions is a major influence over the intertidal shore, creating a diversity of habitat for marine life.
The most widespread foreshore habitat is composed of boulders, eroded from the glacial drift and commonly clothed in extensive beds of knotted wrack, usually associated with rich communities of other seaweeds, winkles, chitons, encrusting shellfish, worms and sponges.
Soft muds and muddy sands form vast areas particularly in the northern half of the Lough. They contain many common burrowing animals including shrimp like amphipods, a wide variety of worms and shellfish; eel-grasses grow on the surface.
These are vital feeding areas for wintering wildfowl and waders, supporting important numbers of many species, including a significant proportion of the world's population of Pale-bellied Brent geese which feed on eel-grass. The surface living hydrobia are snails occuring in vast numbers and are the staple diet of the Shelduck.

Coastline and Island habitats (Plantlife)

Where sea meets land the Lough is fringed by the strandline. Here large quantities of dead seaweed accumulates providing a rich habitat for sandhoppers and seaweed flies which in turn are food for turnstones, starlings, badgers and rats. This seaweed was once used as fertilser by farmers. Throughout the spring and summer, the strandline becomes clothed with the colourful flowers of sea aster, scurvy grasses, thrift, sea campion, mayweed and sea lavender.
Saltmarsh, a rare habitat in Northern Ireland, is thinly scattered around the Lough, but more extensive in the Comber estuary. Typically, eel grasses, samphire and saltmarsh grasses build the lower marsh; sea plantain, lavender, thrift, sea milkwort, orache, red fescue and saltmarsh rushes form the higher marsh.
Rock outcrops immediately above the shore show a profusion of black, yellow and grey lichens, zoned according to the amount of wave splash.
A variety of soil types around the shores overlay boulders and rock. Wild Thyme, stonecrops, and squills grow in thin soils; remnants of maritime heath with bell heather on acid soils; lime-rich grassland occurs with bee, pyramidal and twaybalde orchids; on deeper soils, scrub forms with gorse, brambles, roses, blackthorn and elder.
The character of the islands varies considerably, some are no more than a few square metres of pebbles and coarse grasses at high tide, but are very important for ground nesting birds such as terns. Enrichment by bird droppings on some islands leads to luxuriant growth of alexanders and nettles. At the other extreme are larger islands with deciduous woodland, pasture, scrub, hedgerows and small ponds. Livestock are used to manage the grassland for the benefit of overwintering geese, or to encourage a sward rich in flowers such as knapweed, scabious, yarrow and sorrel, these in turn provide a nectar and food source for butterflies such as meadow browns and common blues. Otters are widespread, their spat is frequently found on a favoured stone or bank."

For further information on this area please see related publications - Strangford Lough The Wildlife of an Irish Sea Lough by Robert Brown, Chapter 5, On the Shore.

Picture courtesy of Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

Related Publications

Strangford Lough The Wildlife of an Irish Sea Lough by Robert Brown

View All Publications