This page gives you access to a range of research and reports related to the Isle of Wight’s Chines. The documents available here are produced by external bodies and are provided for information only.
Modelling the effects of climate change and sea level rise on the evolution of incised coastal gullies
Summary of the key findings of a three year study assessing the impacts of climate change (in terms of temperature, rainfall, and coastal wave regimes) and sea level rise on the evolution of a series of incised coastal gullies (‘Chines’) found in the soft cliff environment of the SW Isle of Wight, UK
Report: Hackney, Derby & Leyland, 2013
The full PhD thesis that this report summarises is also available as a series of PDF files, some of these files are quite large.
Front Matter | Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Bibliography
GIS files of the projected 2100 shorlines for the SW coast are also available for download in shapefile format (you will require appropriate GIS software to use these files).
Download shapefiles
Modelling the response of soft cliffs to climate change: A statistical, process-response model using accumulated excess energy
“The environmental signicance of soft cliff environments, coupled with the societal impacts of cliff retreat, means that it is important to understand the processes and timings of soft cliff erosion. Here, a new statistical, process-response model of soft cliff erosion is proposed, based on the premise that wave energy delivered to the cliff toe is the key parameter forcing erosion”
Journal Article: Hackney, Derby & Leyland, 2013
Managing Coastal Soft Cliffs for Invertebrates
This summary of the Buglife report “Managing Coastal Soft Cliffs for Invertebrates” describes the importance of coastal soft cliff sites for invertebrate conservation in the UK, identifies current and future threats to soft cliff sites, and provides management guidance for protecting and enhancing the invertebrate faunas of soft cliff sites.
Summary Report: Buglife May 2007
Entomological survey and monitoring at Castle Cove, Isle of Wight.
Following coastal protection works in 1996, which included the clearing of vegetation from the coastal slope to the North of Castle Cove, Isle of Wight, this soft rock slope was allowed to regenerate naturally. The resultant habitat is rough coastal grassland with a bare ground element.
baseline survey was carried out in 2003, and further survey and monitoring was undertaken in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010. The Castle Cove site was again surveyed during 2011 and 2012, and changes in vegetation composition and the amounts of available bare ground were monitored. As in previous surveys, counts were made of certain target insect species in order to assess changes in population densities, and the number of nesting holes for certain species of ground nesting Hymenoptera were counted in order to monitor any changes.
Report: 2016 – View PDF
Report: 2015 – View PDF
Report: 2014 – View PDF
Report: 2013 – View PDF
Report: 2012 – View PDF
Report: 2011 – View PDF
Survey of Breeding Birds along the Military Road 2002 – 2010
A survey of the breeding birds along the A3055 (Military Road) between Compton and Chale had been undertaken by Mr Dave Hunnybun each year since 2002. This work has been generously sponsored by the Island 2000 Trust and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust to inform management decisions and land advice being given to landowners a part of their prescriptions under agri-environment schemes.
Report: Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust 2010
Survey of Wintering Birds along the Military Road 2010
A survey of the breeding birds along the A3055 (Military Road) between Compton and Chale had been undertaken by Mr Luke Gaskin. This work has been coordinated by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, with funding from the IW AONB Partnership, to inform management decisions and land advice being given to landowners a part of their prescriptions under agri-environment schemes.
Report: Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust 2010
Isle of Wight Soft Cliff Project: Management and Classification of Soft Cliff Vegetation of the Isle of Wight
This project was commissioned with the following aims and objectives:
• To establish a baseline against which future changes to the ecological condition of cliff top buffer zones and cliff face habitats of the IW can be monitored (with particular focus on the South Wight Maritime SAC)
• To provide advice on the management and extent of cliff top buffer zones with particular reference to the effects of cliff top management on invertebrate communities, vegetation communities and ground nesting birds
• To further develop a soft cliff vegetation classification for use in monitoring soft cliff habitats on the IW. The potential to link this with national vegetation classifications of this habitat will be fully explored.
• To produce information that can feed into a strategy for improved access and interpretation of coastal soft cliffs on the IW
Report: Jonathan Cox Associates 2010
The Invertebrates of cliff-top habitats on the Isle of Wight, 2010, with particular reference to Aculeate Hymenoptera
As part of an ongoing project studying the soft cliffs and chines of the Isle of Wight, in 2009 twenty-three cliff top sites were selected, covering a wide range of habitat types and management regimes. For each site a botanical survey was undertaken along a fixed 2m wide transect running from the cliff edge directly inland. Transect length varied from 10m to 46m according to the nature of the individual site. In 2010, fourteen of these transects, selected to reflect the variety of habitats and management practices, were chosen for entomological survey. The primary target group was aculeate Hymenoptera, a group recognised as having many soft cliff dependent species. During survey the author also recorded any Nationally Scarce or Threatened species, BAP species or soft cliff dependent species encountered in other insect groups. Whilst the invertebrate fauna of the chines, soft cliffs and associated ledges has been subject to considerable study, little was known about how invertebrates utilised the cliff top habitats above these features.
Report: Wright 2010
Long Term Evolution of Incised Coastal Channels on the Isle of Wight, UK
Conference paper presented to IV International Symposium on Gully Erosion, giving insights into the evolution of Chines from numerical modelling.
Conference paper: Leyland & Darby 2007
Modelling flow, erosion and long term evolution of incising channels
A conceptual model of Chine evolution is being formulated in conjunction with ecological and invertebrate surveys, in an attempt to predict the various morphological and ecological stages of Chine development. In a Habitats Directive review of abstraction consents by the UK Environment Agency, the effects of varying abstraction rates were assessed. Licensed abstractions were predicted to reduce natural erosion by up to 90%. The details of this assessment and the long term evolution model of the Chines are presented within the framework of managing the Chines for the sustainability of ecology.
Conference paper: Norton, Leyland & Darby 2006
An empirical–conceptual gully evolution model for channelled sea cliffs
This paper develops a conceptual model of Chine evolution by applying space for time substitution methods using empirical data gathered from Chine channel surveys and remotely sensed data. The model identifies a sequence of evolutionary stages, which are classified based on a suite of morphometric indices and associated processes. The extent to which individual Chines are in a state of growth or decay is estimated by determining the relative rates of shoreline retreat and knickpoint recession, the former via analysis of historical aerial images and the latter through the use of a stream power erosion model.
Journal article: Leyland & Darby 2008
Effects of Holocene climate and sea-level changes on coastal gully evolution: Insights from numerical modelling
In this paper we explore the Holocene erosional history of these gullies using a numerical landscape evolution model modified to include a cliff recession function. Knickpoint recession rates are simulated using a detachment-limited erosion law wherein erosion rate is a power function of drainage area and stream gradient with model parameters defined using empirically-derived data. Hindcast simulations, from 12 000 cal. years BP to present, are undertaken for a range of scenarios of Holocene climate change and sea-level rise. Plausible erosional histories are extracted from scenarios in which simulated and observed gully forms match. The results suggest that rate of sea-level rise is the key control on gully formation and that it is only in the late Holocene period, and specifically in the last 2000 years, that sea-level rise has slowed sufficiently for knickpoint recession rates to exceed cliff recession rates and create sustainable gully networks. The simulations also indicate that the contemporary gully systems are close to a critical threshold, suggesting that future gully evolution is likely to be sensitive to small changes in rates of effective precipitation and/or sea-level rise.
Journal article: Leyland & Darby 2009
More papers from Dr Julian Leyland
A number of other publications are available directly from Julian Leyland’s website.