South Binness Island
South Binness Island is an island in Langstone Harbour, belonging to Hampshire.[1] It is 660 yards long and up to 260 yards wide but only rises to seven feet above Ordnance Datum.[2]
Archaeological finds include Bronze Age pottery and an unfinished Plano-convex knife.[2]
Conservation
In 1978 the island along with the other islands in Langstone harbour was acquired by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds who turned it into a bird sanctuary.[3] Since that time unauthorised landings have been forbidden.[3]
The Island is nesting site for black-headed gulls and the Little Tern.[4] In 2008 the island had 4,886 nesting pairs of black-headed gulls and 11 nesting pairs of Little Terns.[4] None of the Little Tern managed to raise any young that year something thought to be in part due to the number of black-headed gulls.[4]In 2013 500 tonnes of aggregate was added to a beach on the island in order to raise its hight.[5] The hope was that the higher beach would offer little terns more nesting sites high enough to avoid the risk of them being washed away by the tide.[5]
References
- ↑ "Havant Borough Townscape, Landscape and Seascape Character Assessment February 2007" (PDF). Havant Borough Council. http://www.havant.gov.uk/PDF/LCASection5Hayling29to34.pdf. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Adam, Neil J; Momber, Gary (2000). "South Binness Island". in Allen, Michael J; Gardiner, Julie. Our Changing Coast a survey of the intertidal archaeology of Langstone Harbour Hampshire. York: Council for British Archaeology. pp. 104–5. ISBN 1-902771-14-1.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tweed, Ronald (2000). A History of Langstone Harbour and its environs in the County of Hampshire. Dido Publications. pp. 159–160. ISBN 0-9533312-1-0.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Rare seabird struggling to breed". BBC News. BBC. 4 September 2008. http://cdnedge.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7597831.stm. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Hampshire beach built up for the return of little terns". BBC News. 9 May 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-22456011. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
Outside links
- Location map: 50°49’23"N, 1°-0’32"W