Data Zone
Country/territory: South Africa
IBA Criteria met: A1, A2, A3 (1998)
For more information about IBA criteria please click here
Area: 15,460 ha
Protection status:
| Most recent IBA monitoring assessment | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment | Threat score (pressure) | Condition score (state) | Action score (response) |
| 2014 | medium | favourable | high |
| For more information about IBA monitoring please click here | |||
Site description
This IBA is a stretch of coastal dunefield, 57.5 km in length and c.2.1 km wide, running from the Sundays river mouth to Cannon Rocks. The IBA includes Alexandria Forest and the coastal grasslands inland of the dunefield. The Woody Cape Nature Reserve holds the Alexandria Dunefield, which consists of open sand and several series of dune-slacks, interdune hollows and depressions between the dunes. This vast dune sea is considered by some to be the best example of a mobile dune system in the world. The dune-slacks support a distinctive coastal dune herbland. In stable dunes, thicket vegetation comprises many forest-precursor tree species. The dense, low-altitude (100–357 m) Alexandria State Forest, situated on the northern shores of Algoa Bay, lies inland of Cape Padrone. The forest backs the dunefield on the eastern extreme where rainfall is considerably higher. Although the vegetation is designated as Tongaland–Pondoland lowland forest, it has Afromontane affinities. Dominant trees include Ochna, Apodytes, Cassine and Sideroxylon, while frequently encountered sub-dominants include Euclea, Pittosporum, Rapanea, Strychnos, Pterocelastrus and Schotia.
Key biodiversity
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. The dry, unvegetated dunes and coastal slacks of the Woody Cape Nature Reserve hold c.17% of South Africa’s breeding population of Sterna balaenarum, the only such colony in the Eastern Cape. They also hold 2% of the global breeding population of Haematopus moquini. The wide open beaches and dunes hold large numbers of waders in summer. Circus maurus, Neotis denhami and Vanellus melanopterus all occur at very low densities in the partially vegetated dune-slacks and in the short, fringing inland grassland. Forest patches are highly localized and the dunes are filled with mostly secondary scrub, the only large patch of climax forest being found in Alexandria State Forest. The forest here holds Stephanoaetus coronatus, Buteo oreophilus, Tauraco corythaix, Telophorus olivaceus, Apaloderma narina, Bradypterus sylvaticus, Campethera notata, Cossypha dichroa, Cercotrichas signata and Serinus scotops.
Non-bird biodiversity: The cycad Encephalartos arenarius has a global range restricted to sandy habitats of the coastal dune-forest and bush in the Alexandria District, where it is found within the site. Among reptiles, the global ranges of Nucras taeniolata, Scelotes anguinus and Cordylus tropidosternum are virtually restricted to the Algoa Bay region of the Eastern Cape and a large proportion of their populations occur within the site. Habitat exists for Bitis albanica, an Algoa Bay endemic, but it is yet to be recorded in the site. The coastal thicket and dunes support Bradypodion ventrale, Chersina angulata, Leptotyphlops nigricans and Acontias meleagris.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2020) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Woody Cape Section: Addo Elephant National Park. Downloaded from
http://www.birdlife.org on 29/10/2020.
