The Energetica corridor is rich in a wide variety of habitats and wildlife – with a wild and rugged coastline, busy working towns, Country Parks and gardens there is a wealth of wildlife to be found.
Much of the coastline is recognised internationally and locally for its importance to biodiversity. Look out to sea and you may see dolphins, porpoises, seals and maybe even whales. The coastline is home to thousands of birds in the spring and summer – terns, eider ducks, swallows, puffins, razorbills, guillemots and fulmars to name just a few. The cliffs are awash with colour in the spring and summer with wild flowers, and, on less windy days, many butterflies can be seen.
A closer inspection of the world between land and sea can be found by exploring rockpools – often “nurseries” to deeper water animals in the spring giving a sneaky peak at what lives further out. You may find baby scorpion fish, baby lumpsuckers, baby flatfish, shannies, blennies and butterfish. Sea slugs, snails, crabs, starfish and urchins can also be found. Animals living in this constantly changing world have a tough life and have many adaptations to help them survive and all have interesting stories.
Long stretches of sandy beach along the corridor provide great walking and if you look down to the strand line further secrets of the deep may be revealed – “mermaids purses”, “dead man’s fingers”, and an amazing variety of shells.
Further inland the effects of us humans are more evident with farming, development and urban areas. But there is still plenty of wildlife. Otters, ospreys, deer, hares, badgers and bats can all be found in the Energetica corridor (with a little patience!).