Natural England (NE) Drigg Coast Intertidal Survey of the Biotopes of Rocky Scars in the European Marine Site dataset https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=010_2bd67810c928d2a09329f446689b10ee The Ravenglass estuary system is a joint estuary of the rivers Esk, Mite and Irt. These converge to the southwest of Ravenglass to join the Cumbrian coast through a single channel between the Drigg Dunes and the Eskmeal Dunes. Within the Channel and estuaries, habitats gradually change from mobile sandy sediments to estuarine muds and saltmarsh. Interrupting these sediments are areas of mixed substrata, with boulders, cobbles, pebbles and consolidated gravels. The Drigg Coast, European Marine Site, is of considerable conservation importance; it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a candidate Special Area of Conservation (SAC). While sediments dominate the majority of the area, intertidal boulder and cobble habitats may have important conservation interests. The objectives of this report are to map the extent of the rocky skears in the Esk estuary, Mite Estuary, irt Estuary and the Channel, and to provide detailed descriptions of the biotopes they support. From this it should be possible to identify and describe any features of particular conservation significance. Habitat diversity on rocky skears is generally restricted, leading to a limited range of species being recorded. This is particularly evident on the rocky biotopes of the Drigg Coast. Within the estuaries, species diversity was generally affected by the variable and reduced salinities, lack of stability, or less frequently siltation; while in the Esk Channel (from the confluence of the Esk, Mite and Irt), species diversity was reduced by mobile substrata and sand scour. Even in those areas where the substrata had been stabilised by Mytilus edulis or Sabellaria alveolata, there were relatively impoverished communities. All the habitats and communities surveyed (with the exception of Mite Bridge), are believed to be natural and representative of the northwest. The diversity of habitats and communities is very low. Most of the communities are surviving in highly stressed and variable environments and are therefore unlikely to be fragile. The low species richness generally results in a low sensitivity to disturbance and environmental change. The one exception to this may be the Sabellaria alveolata reff which may be considered fragile and of limited extent nationally. Due to the impoverished nature of these largely mobile sediment shores they lack intrinsic appeal in marine biological terms. However the estuaries as a whole are complex features with a high biological, topographical and geological appeal. 19990731