Rocky Shore - East Grampian Coast

The East Grampian Coast (EGC) supports a mosaic of habitats such as sand dunes, cliffs, and urban areas, and these are interspersed with rocky shore all along the coastline (fig. 1). The underlying rock type along the EGC is largely granites, gneisses, and schists with Old Red Sandstone underlying the area between Kincardine and Stonehaven. The EGC is highly exposed to wave action and experiences high levels of suspensed sediment compared to other areas around Scotland resulting in lower light levels (Scottish Government, 2020). All of these factors influence the rocky shore biodiversity found along the EGC.

The JNCC Marine Habitat Classification can split habitats along the EGC into infralittoral and sublittoral rock of varying energy levels (i.e. exposure to wave action and tidal streams). Some examples of rocky shore habitats found along the EGC include: 'Laminaria hyperborea and red seaweeds on exposed infralittoral rock', 'kelp with cushion fauna and/or foliose red seaweeds', 'echinoderms and crustose communities', and 'sponges and anemones on vertical circalittoral bedrock' (JNCC, 2022).

Some rarer species can be found on EGCs rocky shores, including dickie's bladder fern (Cystopteris dickieana) found near Cove. Around 80-100 species of macroalgae (seaweeds) have been recorded across the East Coast - including 106 at Buchan Ness (Hastings, 2009). Species include bladder wrack (Fucus vesiculosus) (fig. 2), toothed wrack (Fucus serratus), dulse (Palmaria palmata) (fig. 3), and sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima). Crabs inhabit rocky shores, including hermit crabs (Pagurus bernhardus) and shore crabs (Carcinus maenas). Other rocky shore invertebrates include dog whelk (Nucella lapillus) and small periwinkle (Melarhaphe neritoides). Shore birds such as turnstone (Arenaria interpres), purple sandpiper (Calidris martima), and oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) feed on invertebrates along EGC rocky shores.