Solitary Islands Marine Park
[6] The Solitary Island Marine Park contains a diverse range of habitats including intertidal and subtidal reefs, soft sediments, beaches, seagrass beds, mangroves, saltmarsh and open waters, which support a large variety of fauna and flora.
[7] The coastal areas adjoining the Marine Park are high in species richness and endemism [8] and the waters around the Solitary Islands are strongly influenced by the warm East Australian Current.
Mangroves are found in sheltered estuarine environments in a transitional zone between land and sea, generally in an intertidal area and provide habitat for many fish, birds and invertebrates.
[15] North-West Solitary Island: Pigface, Saltbush, Prickly Couch (Zoisia macrantha), Wandering Jew, Coast Morning Glory are predominant species.
[16] South-West Solitary Island: Pigface, Wandering Jew, Variable groundsel (Senecio Lautus), New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides), Climbing Saltbush (Rhagodia nutans), Tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis anacardioides), Prickly Couch, Dusky Coral Pea (Kennedia rubicunda), and Shore Spleenwort (Asplenium obtusatum).
[18] Birdie (small islet at northern end of South Solitary Island): Wandering Jew, Coast Morning Glory, New Zealand Spinach, Coastal yellow Pea (Vigna marina), Pennywort (Hydrocotyle acutiloba) and Pigweed (Portulaca oleracea).
[18] Split Solitary: Climbing Saltbush, Variable Groundsel, Pigface, Wandering Jew, Coastal Yellow Pea and Sword Bean (Canavalia maritima).
[19] Korfs Islet: Pigface, Prickly couch, Summer grass (Digitaria ciliaris), Ruby saltbush (Enchylaena tomentosa) and Sea purslane (Sesuvium portulacastrum).
[26] Endangered Little Terns (Sternula albifrons) breed on beaches north and south of Coffs Harbour, between October and February, before departing on their annual migration to eastern Asia.
[19] Other breeding birds recorded on the islands include Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor), Black-winged Petrel (Pterodroma nigripennis), Silver Gulls (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae) and Crested Tern (Sterna bergii).
[29] Migratory shorebirds that spend the summers at the Marine Park, like the Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica),[30] Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis)[31] and the Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres),[32] breed in Siberia, Alaska or the Arctic.
[25] Raptors such as the White-breasted Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) [15][20] Brahminy kite (Haliastur indus) and Osprey are often seen hunting for fish in the Marine Park, and waterbirds such as herons and egrets (Egretta spp), as well as sacred kingfishers (Todiramphus sanctus), are regularly seen in the estuaries.
[3] The area around Pimpernel Rock, at the northern end of the Solitary Islands Marine Reserve (Commonwealth Waters) is favoured by the endangered Grey nurse shark (Carcharias taurus), who has a preference for gutters in reefs and submarine caves.
Tropical predators like spangled emperor (Lethrinus nebulosus), bigeye trevally (Caranx sexfasciatus), mangrove jack (Lutjanus argentimaculatus), moses perch (Lutjanus russellii) and brown sweetlip (Plectorhinchus gibbosus) occur with mulloway (Argyrosomus japonicus), snapper, red morwong (Cheilodactylus fuscus), silver trevally (Pseudocaranx georgianus), bream (Acanthopagrus spp.)
[3] The only reptile recorded on Muttonbird Island since 1969 is Burton’s Snake Lizard (Lialis burtonis) though Eastern Water Dragons (Physignathus lesueurii) were plentiful prior to 1930.
[3] Introduced domestic animals on South Solitary Island during the days of lighthouse keepers, destroyed the natural vegetation, and eroded topsoil,[36] which in turn caused the nesting Wedgetail shearwaters’ burrows to collapse.
