Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge

General site character

• Marine areas, Sea inlets (100%)
  

Annex I habitats that are a primary reason for selection of this site

• 1110 Sandbanks which are slightly covered by sea water all the time

  The Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge site is located off the south Lincolnshire coast in the vicinity of Skegness, extending eastwards and north from Burnham Flats on the North Norfolk coast, occupying The Wash Approaches. Water depths are generally shallow and mostly less than 30m below chart datum. The area encompasses a wide range of sandbank types (banks bordering channels, linear relict banks, sinusoidal banks with distinctive ‘comb-like’ subsidiary banks) and biogenic reef of the worm Sabellaria spinulosa. These features lay almost entirely on the glacial till of the Bolders Bank Formation which is responsible for much of the evident surface topography, especially glacial mounds, channels and hollows (Cooper et al, 2008). The group of banks within the Wash Approaches are generally between 15 to 20km long and 1.5 to 3km wide. They arise from the basal layers by 7 to 12m with crest heights generally less than 5m BCD. The sedimentary component of the banks is fine to medium sands, predominantly being derived from coastal erosional processes over the last 5,000 years following the last glacial retreat and marine inundation (Cooper et al, 2008).

• 1170 Reefs

  Abundant Sabellaria spinulosa agglomerations have consistently been recorded within the boundary of the cSAC (Foster-Smith & Hendrick, 2003). Survey data indicate that reef structures are concentrated in certain areas of the site, with a patchy distribution of crust-forming aggregations across the site. The main areas of S. spinulosa reef are found along the Lincolnshire coast south of Skegness at Lynn Knock and Skegness Middle Ground (south-east part of the site); just north of Docking Shoal bank; and associated with the southern edge of Silver Pit (in the northern area of the site) (Woo, 2008; Foster-Smith & Hendrick, 2003; Brutto, 2009; Limpenny et al, 2010).

Annex I habitats present as a qualifying feature, but not a primary reason for selection of this site

• Not Applicable

Annex II species that are a primary reason for selection of this site

• Not Applicable

Annex II species present as a qualifying feature, but not a primary reason for site selection

• Not Applicable