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The white cliffs of the British coastline appear barren. Yet many plants and animals can be found, clinging to tiny ledges or living in the cliff top grasses. The British chalk near the sea can be steep and dramatic; sometimes they slope gently from beach to cliff top. The provide a variety of habitats, including bare rock, cracks and ledges, grasses, and thick vegetation.
Birds & Mammals: Seabirds can often be seen near the white cliffs, and some species nest there. Fulmars and kittiwakes, for example, can breed on the tiny ledges. Herring gulls nest on the cliffs, as well as on the buildings of seaside towns. The rock pipit makes it nest in a well hidden place among thick vegetation or deep in a cleft in the rock. The rock pipit is easiest to see during the spring mating season, when the male performs his song flight over the cliffs, then drops suddenly back to his perch. Where a cliff is soft enough, sand martins bore nesting holes into its face.
The cliff's most typical aerial hunter is the kestrel, which hovers as it searches for prey such as voles and young rabbits. The small mammals also prey to weasels and stoats. These fierce and efficient predators also catch much bigger animals, such as adult rabbits. In among the thicker vegetation, small birds such as dunnocks and willow warblers build their nests. Hedgehogs search here for invertebrates. Up on the cliff top on the grassy slopes below, rabbits thrive. They dig their warrens into the softer soils of the grasslands. The grazing rabbits keep the grasses short, and jackdaws sometimes nest in old rabbit burrows near the brow of the clefts.
Plants and Flowers: The chalk cliffs are very difficult for plants to colonize. The sheer slopes are an obstacle, and the chalk itself is in a content state of erosion. But wherever there is a crack in the rocks or a tiny ledge where debris can collect, plants take root. Samphire, thrift, and rock sea lavender are all tolerant of the sea's salt spray. On gentler slopes, a more abundant group of wild plants thrives, especially where the chalk is mixed with other soils. Grasses like red fescue grow. along with yarrow, bird's foot trefoil, carline thistle, common century, and bee orchid. Eventually the grass is taken over by shrubbery, and thickets of hawthorn, sloe, gorse, and ash develop. On the cliff top, a similar sward (portion of ground covered with grass) forms, followed by shrubbery.
Invertebrates: The grasslands are the best spots on the white cliffs to find invertebrates. The red admiral and painted lady butterflies arrive in spring and summer. The burnet moth, common blue butterfly, meadow grasshoppers, and bumble bees are also found here.
White Cliff Rarities: The white cliffs in Great Britain are home to some rare plant and animals species. Wild cabbage clings to the steep cliffs. The late spider orchid blooms in colonies along cliff toips and on ledges. The Glanville fritilalary butterfly is a cliff dweller. It is found only along the southern cliffs of the Isle of Wight. The Glanville fritillary is seen on the slopes of the Isle of Wight.
White Cliff Erosion: The cliffs undergo constant change from the erosive activities of sea, wind, and rain. Made of hard, solid white chalk, these cliffs erode slowly. Along less rugged coastlines, where the chalk is mixed with clay and sand , the process may be more dramtic. The sea's constant assault, along with the water that is held in the soil after heavy rains, can cuase avalanches: as the cliff tunmbles and slides into the sea, it sometimes breaks off in huge chucks. In the spring following an analanche, plants colonize teh new slopes created by the erosion. Daises and coltsfoot are quick to take root. the grasses appear more slowly, but after a few seasons the grassy and flowery slopes of the cliff are restored until the next avalanche. Wild cabbage grows lower down the cliff, where salt spray deters most plants. Despite frequent erosion, plants will quicklyu colonize the cliff slopes. Kittiwakes use the ledges on the cliff face to build their nests.
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