Formerly known as Manor Farm, Goring Gap is comprised of approximately 120 acres and is located in a small neighbourhood of the Worthing borough known as Goring-by-Sea. To the west of Goring Gap lies the small village of Ferring and to the east the well built up town of Worthing. Goring Gap is one of the few areas of open space on the coast between Brighton and Littlehampton and there is large potential it could be subject to development, evidence for this is shown with a tarmac ring road being built anticipating housing development, thankfully which has not taken place.
Goring Gap is mainly comprised of arable fields these are privately owned by a local farmer, to the south there is a strip of amenity grassland that runs adjacent to the sea and that is owned and managed by Worthing and Adur district council. In the early 1900's the site was popular with travellers and it was a caravan site. Later the site was used for farming crops and still is to this present day. Today the site is very popular for recreational use such as dog walking and sporting activities such as football which is played in the north-western corner on the amenity grassland. Other activities the site is used for include birdwatching, jogging, and it is also a popular site for model aircraft flying.
Birds of Goring Gap:
One of the main ecological features at Goring Gap is the high tide wader and gull roost. The main species of waders present are Sanderling, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Grey Plover. Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Grey Plover are all amber listed species of medium conservation concern (Eaton et al., 2015). The numbers present vary greatly depending on human disturbance. The peak count in 2016 a year before I moved to the area were as follows Ringed Plover 93 (Dec), Sanderling 86 (Feb), Grey Plover 35 (Dec) and Dunlin 700 (Jan) (Sussex Ornithological Society, 2017, The Sussex Bird Report, 2016). The gull roost is made up of five regularly occurring species, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull and Mediterranean Gull. The site supports few breeding birds but these include the red-listed Skylark and the amber-listed Meadow Pipit. With its coastal location the also also attracts small numbers of migrant birds arriving and departing the UK these include Northern Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail, Spotted Flycatcher and various warblers.
Scarcities and Rarities that have occurred at Goring Gap (Smith, 2014):
Cattle Egret: One seen on its approach off Goring, flew east past nearby Marine Gardens on 7 April 2000.
Blue-winged Teal: An early millennium record of an adult male on the sea with Shovelers.
Montagu's Harrier: One record (23 May 200) of a bird arriving from the sea over the eastern edge of Goring Gap and heading northwards.
Kentish Plover: Two records, one of a wintering female in winter 1981-1982; the second a juvenile in 2002.
Grey Phalarope: One record (11 Dec 1982) of a bird on the flooded beach green and later with other waders in the fields.
Long-tailed Skua: Two records, one in spring and the other in autumn.
Iceland Gull: Two records, a first-winter bird on the roost field in February 2014 and another first-winter bird in 2018.
Glaucous Gull: One record of a bird on the roost field in March 2014.
Gull-billed Tern: One record of a single passing eastwards on 26 April 1984.
Yellow-browed Warbler: Three records of this species in the plantation October 1996, 2013 and 2018.
Wood Warbler: Not recorded at Goring Gap since 8 May 1982, when one sang from the plantation.
Great Grey Shrike: One in the swallows around the central pond on 15 October 1982.
Serin: Two records the first being in the mid 1990's of two possibly three birds using the arable fields in March and another March arrival in the early millennium of a singing bird along Patterson's Walk.
Common Rosefinch: One record of a bird in June.
Snow Bunting: A handful of records of this species with the most recent being a 2CY female along the coastal path in January 2019.
Habitat Types found at Goring Gap:
At Goring Gap there are multiple habitat types found the first notable habitat type are the arable fields, these are used by bird such as gulls and waders as a roosting site when the tide is high but this one occurs in the winter. There is also a holm oak tree plantation which was planted by David Lyon who purchased the Goring Estate in 1834. The holm oak tree plantation has a very dense canopy with no ground flora although along the edges of the plantation Stinking Iris and Hart's-tounge Fern, Lords and Ladies and Snowdrops are all found. The scrub around the site is made up of Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Bramble and Buddleia. Several ditches can be found at the site, these hold little ecological value and suffer from eutrophication which is caused by the run off of fertilisers from the arable fields.
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| Goring Gap - Phase 1 Habitat Map created using QGIS. |
Physical Factors at Goring Gap:
The soils at Goring Gap are freely draining, slightly acidic loamy soils these are common in arable and grassland habitats. The soils have a low fertility rate and it drains to local groundwater and rivers. There is also one body of water found on Goring Gap which is a small pond in the middle of one of the arable fields which played host to a Great Grey Shrike in October 1982. \
References:
Smith, D. (2014). Birds recorded at Goring Gap, 1976-2014.
References:
Smith, D. (2014). Birds recorded at Goring Gap, 1976-2014.
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