Porlock Bay is on theBristol Channel, betweenHurlstone Point andPorlock Weir inSomerset, England.
The coastline includes shingle ridges, salt marshes and a submerged forest. In 1052 the Saxon king,Harold, landed at Porlock Bay fromIreland, and burnt the town before marching onLondon.[1]
Much of the coastline is under the care of theNational Trust, and the coastline forms part of theSouth West Coast Path.
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 | |
  Location within Somerset | |
| Location | Somerset |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | SS880479 |
| Coordinates | 51°13′09″N3°36′18″W / 51.21928°N 3.60508°W /51.21928; -3.60508 |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 186.3 hectares (1.863 km2; 0.719 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1990 (1990) |
| Natural England website | |
Porlock Ridge and Saltmarsh (grid referenceSS880479) is a 186.3hectare (460.4 acre)biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on Porlock Bay,notified in 1990.
This site is notified for its nationally important active coastal geomorphological features. It is also nationally important for thesalt marsh and coastal vegetatedshingle habitats which occur here.[2]
AtBossington a shingle beach, through which flows theRiver Horner,rising sea levels in the 1990s caused the creation of salt marshes and lagoons developed in the area behind the boulder bank.[3][4]
This site comprises a shingle ridge and associated saltmarsh hinterland extending for a distance of approximately 4 kilometres along the west Somerset coast, immediately north ofPorlock village. The type of geomorphological development seen at Porlock has been noted for coastal shingle systems elsewhere (e.g. west coast ofNewfoundland,Canada). Although other UK systems probably developed and are developing in a similar manner, Porlock provides the only fully documented example of a nationally important coastal geomorphological system which has undergone catastrophic failure and subsequent evolution followingsediment inhibition and a great storm in October 1996 which caused the single ridge to be breached allowing the marsh to be inundated with salt water at New Works (the drainage facilities for the previous managed fresh water marsh). This storm created a brand new tidal lagoon, which since that storm is rapidly developing with creeks forming and land that was recently farmed pasture now tidal salt marsh.[2]
A large part of this site is lower saltmarsh dominated bycommon glasswort (Salicornia europaea andannual) andsea-blite (Suaeda maritima). Also found here is the nationally scarceBabington’s leek (Allium ampeloprasum ssp.babingtonii). The site is visited regularly bygrey heron (Ardea cinerea),little egret (Egretta garzetta) andshelduck (Tadorna tadorna). Small winter flocks oflapwing (Vanellus vanellus),curlew (Numenius arquata), andteal (Anas crecca) occur on the site as a whole. The site is also visited by a very wide range of migratory species.[2]
In 2013 anoyster farm was created with the first harvest being taken in 2016.[5]
At low tide the remains of asubmerged forest can be seen on Porlock Beach. The area was several miles inland until the sea level in the Bristol Channel rose about 7,000 to 8,000 years ago.[6]