SAND DUNES –REGAINING THEIR NATURE

Studland beach and dunes – 1960s

The seaside holiday

Sandy waste and biodiversity hotspot

Sefton coast 1920s

Braunton Burrows 1990s

Do we really love our dunes?

Donald Trump, golf & Menie Dunes

Structure of the talk

• Setting the scene – what do we have?• History of dunes – how have we got here?• Challenges – do the changes described matter?• Management – the tools of the trade• Constraints – the real world?• The future – and climate change

Setting the scene – what do we have?

Wide beaches

Sand, wind and space

Climbing dunes

Strandline with sea rocket

Short grassland and dune slack

Acidic dunes

Northern species

Purple milk-vetch & bloody cranesbill

Lumps and bumps

Kenfig Dunes, South Wales

Sandscale Haws, Cumbria

Welcome to non-natives

Extent of dune habitats – some numbers

Derived from Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) datao 52,500ha. (Britain excluding machair, 62% in Scotland)

o 70,000ha. (Britain including machair, 71% in Scotland)

Revised figures (Graham Weaver)o 33,200ha. (Britain excluding machair)

o 7,880ha. (England)

o 5,040ha. (Wales)

o 20,250ha. (Scotland)

Will this become ‘Atlantic dune woodland’?

History of dunes – how have we got here?

Buried soils

Culbin Sands, Scotland - 1909

Any one got a spare £1 million?

Braunton Burrows 1920s

The last 50 years

Challenges – do the changes matter?

A modern dune – is this so bad?

Species of conservation concern: the 60%-ers

Species of conservation concern: the 60%-ers

Shrublands

Dune ecohydrology

Dunes on the move

Not so welcome visitors

Management – tools of the trade

Disconnected beach and dune

Dune erosion – Formby Point

New dunes – the ‘green beach’

New dunes – now you see them, now you don’t

Bare sand

Chasing the water table

Grazing

Golf management

Constraints – the real world?

Big scary animals?

The Studland cowgirl

How to lose friends quickly: Tree removal

Losing control

The future – and climate change

The Studland peninsula

The Sefton coast

The future!