View towards Prawle Point (geograph 4918462)

The Prawle Point and Start Point Site of Special Scientific Interest ( to ) is a 341.2

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in southern

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, notified in 1976. It includes the coastal headlands of

Prawle Point Prawle Point ( oe, Prǣwhyll, "lookout hill") is a coastal headland in south Devon, England. It is the southernmost point of Devon. Just to the west is Elender Cove, and further west are Gammons Head Beach, also known as Maceley Cove, and Gammo ...

and Start Point. The soft cliffs between Prawle Point and Start Point are recognised as being one of the most important sites for solitary bees and wasps in the UK. Over 100 species have been recorded including many rare and scarce species. This section of coast features an almost continuous 5 km stretch of soft head deposits on a raised hard rock platform. These cliffs are south facing and feature sheltered coves, offering ideal conditions for thermophilic (warmth-loving) invertebrates. The friable cliff material and high temperatures attract large nesting aggregations of solitary bees and wasps which burrow into the cliff. Prawle cliffs are the only site in the UK for the rare

cuckoo bee The term cuckoo bee is used for a variety of different bee lineages which have evolved the kleptoparasitism, kleptoparasitic behaviour of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, reminiscent of the behavior of cuckoo birds. The name is perhap ...

''Nomada sexfasciata'', a

cleptoparasite Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when foo ...

of the long-horned mining bee '' Eucera longicornis''. Another rare species of particular note is the mason wasp '' Euodynerus quadrifasciatus''. Currently, this is only known from three sites in the UK: East Prawle, West Weare (

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, Dorset), and Thursley Common (Surrey). Prawle is also an important site for the

Cirl bunting The cirl bunting ( ), (''Emberiza cirlus''), is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. It breeds across southern Europe, on the Mediterranean islands an ...

, and supports a rich

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.English Nature citation sheet for the site
(accessed 3 November 2006)

External links

English Nature website
(SSSI information)
Buglife website
(more information about soft cliff invertebrates) Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Devon Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1976 Geology of Devon {{Devon-geo-stub