The Solway Firth straddles the western border between Scotland and England, the southern shores lying in Cumbria, the northern shores in Dumfries and Galloway. The shores contrast with the predominantly sedimentary Cumbrian shores to the south and the fiordic coast of western Scotland to the north, with shores of mixed sedimentary and igneous boulders, sedimentary and igneous bedrock, and a range of clean mobile sands and less wave-exposed silty sands, adjacent to shallow water. The coastline of the area are largely unspoilt and natural, backed by farmland which is predominantly used as pasture grassland for dairying. 18 sites were surveyed on the open coast, frpm both rocky and sedimentary substrata and from these sites 13 habitat types were identified. Outer coasts were dominated by boulder and cobble substrata with occasional outcroppings of bedrock. Areas of mobile wave-exposed sand occurred around Luce Bay and on the lower shore at many sites. In more sheltered conditions boulders and cobbles were still the predominant hard substratum, with similar communities to those of the open coast. However sedimentary communities were richer in the more stable fine sand and silts, with a range of bivalves and polychaetes occurring. Beware! Infauna has been put in epifauna window Habitat diversity on the north coast of the outer Solway is low, though a more diverse range of habitats and a greater number of species was found than on the Cumbrian coast. Rocky substrata were present in greater quantity and the stability and finer particle size of sheltered sediment flats encouraged the development of richer infaunal communities than are present in the adjacent inlets of the Cumbrian coast. An assessment of the scientific interest and nature conservation importance of the habitats, communities and species is given. Records currently considered sensitive have been removed from this dataset.
