Key Species and Habitats for Alderney
Key Species and Habitats for Alderney
Key species and habitats were identified against a narrative criterion (link the document/see below), developed as part of the Alderney State of Nature project.
The criteria consider whether a species or habitat is:
Vulnerable (e.g. rare, declining, or sensitive to pressures)
Valuable (ecologically, culturally, or economically important to Alderney)
Harmful, such as invasive non-native species requiring management
Subject to a legal or policy requirement for monitoring or protection
Relevant data sources aligned with these criteria were identified and assessed. Each source was weighted according to its relevance and robustness, and combined to produce an overall score for each species or habitat. Species and habitats scoring above a defined threshold were identified as key for Alderney.
Species
Species are grouped by taxonomic group alphabetically. Records for these species on Alderney can be explored via the Alderney Biodiversity Centre (add link/click through).
Alga
- Knotted Wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum)
- Peacock's Tail Seaweed (Padina pavonica)
Birds
- Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)
- Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus)
- Common House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
- Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)
- Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)
- Dartford Warbler (Curruca undata)
- Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)
- Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
- Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)
- Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Fish
- Common Sole (Solea solea)
- European Eel (Anguilla anguilla)
- European Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa)
- Lesser Sand Eel (Ammodytes tobianus)
- Tope (Galeorhinus galeus)
- Undulate Ray/Painted Ray (Raja undulata)
Reptiles & amphibians
- Common Frog (Rana temporaria)
- Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis)
Marine invertebrates
- European Flat Oyster (Ostrea edulis)
- Edible/Brown Crab (Cancer pagurus)
- European Spiny Lobster (Palinurus elephas)
- Green Ormer (Haliotis tuberculata)
Marine mammals
- Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
- Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus)
Non-vascular plants
- Land Quillwort (Isoetes histrix)
- Stiff Swan-neck moss (Campylopus pilifer)
Terrestrial invertebrates
- Brindled Ochre (Dasypolia temple)
- Broom Moth (Ceramica pisi)
- Dot Moth (Melanchra persicariae)
- Figure of Eight Moth (Diloba caeruleocephala)
- Garden Dart (Euxoa nigricans)
- Garden Tiger Moth (Arctia caja)
- Hedge Rustic (Tholera cespitis)
- Mouse Moth (Amphipyra tragopoginis)
Terrestrial mammals
- Brown Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auritus)
- Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus)
- Nathusius's Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus nathusii)
Vascular plants
- Shore Dock (Rumex rupestris)
- Small Restharrow (Ononis reclinate)
Habitats
Marine
- Eelgrass/seagrass beds (including Zostera marina / Zostera angustifolia on lower shore or infralittoral clean or muddy sand; sublittoral seagrass beds).
- Seaweed communities on mixed substrate (Saw wrack (Fucus serratus) and red seaweeds on infralittoral boulders, cobbles and gravel, in tide swept conditions).
- Seaweed communities on bedrock (Saw wrack (Fucus serratus) and red seaweeds on infralittoral boulders, cobbles and gravel, in tide swept conditions).
- Kelp and red seaweeds on mixed substrates in tide swept conditions.
- Pepper dulse (a red seaweed; Osmundea pinnatifida) on moderately exposed bedrock.
Terrestrial
- Lowland dry heath
- Sand dunes (embryonic shifting dunes and shifting dunes with marram)
- Dune grassland
- Vegetated sea cliffs
- Woodland (other lowland mixed deciduous woodland)