Duddon Estuary Wetland of International Importance (Ramsar Convention)

Description

The Duddon Estuary is the sandy, gritty estuary of the River Duddon that lies between Morecambe Bay and the west Cumbrian coast.

It opens into the Irish Sea to the north of the Furness peninsula; Walney Island forming part of its southern edge. Its 28 miles (45 km) of shoreline enclose an area of 13 square miles (35 km²), making it the second largest estuary in Cumbria after the Solway Firth.

It is a significant area for birds with an internationally important breeding population of Sandwich terns that favour the slag banks around Millom and Askam in Furness. There are also migratory bird populations of international importance, including Pintail, Red Knot and Common Redshank and, regularly, over 20,000 wintering waterfowl, including Common Shelduck, Red-breasted mergansers, Eurasian Oystercatchers, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Eurasian Curlew.

It is also significant for Natterjack Toads. The Duddon Estuary supports one fifth of the national population of the rare amphibian that is only found at 50 sites in the UK, of which five are in the Duddon Estuary.

The estuary is botanically rich with salt marsh, sand dune and shingle communities, including a nationally rare shingle vegetation community at Haverigg Haws and North Walney.

Shingle species include Sea Sandwort, Spear-leaved Orache, Sea Rocket and Sea Kale. All the dune grasslands at Sandscale Haws, Haverigg Haws and North Walney support a rich flora with the rare Dune Helleborine.