National survey and assessment of the conservation status of Irish sea cliffs

A detailed desk study was carried out where possible on all of the cliff sites in Ireland which had been identified up until 2010, and further sites were identified. A conservation assessment and survey technique were developed (based on the pilot survey completed in 2009) and field surveys and assessments were carried out at 32 cliff sites around Ireland. An access database was created to contain the cliff related data. The cliff sites were mapped using Arc GIS and releve information was added into a Turboveg database. A project report was written and contains information relating to the desk and field surveys, the individual conservation assessments, and the national conservation assessment. It addresses each of the following aims: 1. Conduct a desk-based analysis of all known Irish sea cliff sites. 2. Undertake a national baseline monitoring survey of 31 sites to assess the conservation status of Irish vegetated sea cliffs. 3. Design and populate an MS® Access database with data from the desk study, field surveys and conservation status assessments. 4. ExpandDesign, expand, populate, analyse and assess the Irish sea cliff database. 5. Compile Conduct an assessment of the conservation status of Irish vegetated sea cliffs for reporting to the EU under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive. 6. Refine the conservation monitoring protocol for sea cliffs. 7. Develop a preliminary vegetation classification of sea cliff communities in Ireland. The findings of the survey work are discussed and recommendations are made for the future treatment of the sea cliff habitat in Ireland. Some site specific recommendations are made.

The following GIS datasets are included in this download: - A point shapefile is included in the download indicating the locations of releves recorded during the field survey of sea cliffs. Photographs of the releves are hyperlinked to the records

• Point file showing the locations from which the cliffs were viewed.

• A shapefile indicating the left-most, right-most and centre points of the swath in which information was recorded. Photographs of the swaths are hyperlinked to the records.

• A polyline shapefile indicating there the sea cliff sites are located in Ireland. The year of survey and conservation assessment are included where appropriate.

• A polyline shapefile showing sites which were identified during the desk survey in 2010

• A polyline shapefile indicating the coastline of Ireland which was used as a guide when digitising the cliff and section shapefiles.

• A polyline shapefile representing the locations of sections of cliffs in Ireland. Photographs of the sections are hyperlinked to the records