Protecting Winterton-on-sea's sand dunes

               Sand dunes at Winterton-on-sea

Winterton dunes are an extensive dune system of 109 hectares, found on the east coast of Norfolk. What makes these particular dunes stand out, is that they have many similarities to dunes found in the Baltic and so a wealth of diverse vegetation and wildlife can be found here. It is the Winterton-on-sea dunes that hold this characteristic and are home to acidic plant communities, as found in the Baltic States. Other dunes found on the North Norfolk Coast are calcareous; by way of explanation, they contain chalk and lime.

When looking at fauna at the dunes, it is home to some spectacular and rare breeds (some of the rarest in the UK), something visitors will definitely want to keep a look out for while visiting. Two star residents of the dunes are the very rare and protected Adders and Natterjack toads. There are only two known colonies of the Natterjack in the UK, they reside in East Anglia and South East England, you may see one in one of the Winterton dune rock pools. The toads are protected by law and you must not disturb them if you are lucky enough to spot one. 

Natterjack toad (Wilson, 2018), Fig.1                          Rare Adder Snake that resides at Winterton (Allain, 2022), Fig2.  

Winterton dunes show a healthy variety in dune size; from embryo dunes (found at the front of the dunes), which show a healthy amount of marram, Lyme and sea crouch grass due to the salinity and lack of human contact, to grey dunes that are abundant in ferns, heathers, a variety of lichen, moss, and other more common finds such as sorrel.

A view from the top of Winterton dunes. Here you can see some of the beautiful heathers that grow here. Fig.3.

On visiting Winterton dunes on Friday 25th September 2022, we spent time to identify some of the impacts humans have on Lichens that give the name "grey dunes" due to their light colour. What was prominent was the lichen species that colonised the dunes were being compromised due to human activity. Time was spent to identify just how serious the issue is using a Quadrat survey method on different areas that ran across paths created by repeated human tracks. We tested 10 Quadrat surveys on a transect line across a chosen path 3 times, in 3 separate horizontal lines, to make a total of 30 samples for the chosen path. We then repeated this method on a second path at 15 metres away to ensure a non-biased result. Below I will show our results in table format (Fig. 5 and Fig.6) and then create a graph based on the average result to show the damage to lichen coverage created by human disturbance and paths (Fig.7). Quadrat number 1 starts at 5m across from the chosen path moving a metre at a time and quadrat number 5 is directly in the centre of the paths tested.

Example of our quadrat sampling. Each square represents 4%. Fig.4.

Our hypothesis for this study was that lichens would be highly abundant across areas that saw less footfall, and would be progressively more compromised where paths were being created.

Quadrat number	Transect line  1	Transect line 2	Transect line 3
1	75	80	70
2	70	90	60
3	65	50	20
4	20	10	10
5	0	0	3
6	3	0	0
7	25	3	1
8	40	25	3
9	50	40	5
10	50	50	15

Lichen coverage across chosen path 1. Fig.5.

Quadrat number	Transect line  1	Transect line 2	Transect line 3
1	80	40	50
2	90	40	80
3	70	35	75
4	5	40	80
5	5	15	30
6	40	3	2
7	65	25	15
8	65	20	40
9	80	60	65
10	85	50	60

Lichen coverage across chosen path 2. Fig.6.

 

Fig.7.

From a total of 60 samples, there was a prominent pattern occurring. We hypothesised correctly, and we can absolutely see the huge impacts human footfall has on the lichen coverage on the dunes. There are many strategies that could be used to help prevent this damage from increasing over time, it is clear upon visiting there is a lack of signage over the dunes and to some extent I believe people are just trying to find their way when visiting. The use of signage to guide people over the dunes in a more ethical way would be a great first step in aiding lichen recovery and conservation. Another point to mention is educating the public. Simply, if people are unaware they cannot act for the greater good. There is an opportunity for this information on the signage, even an appealing educational notice somewhere before the dunes, such as in the car park. It would be most beneficial to take this test again and with professionals who can enforce such measures going forward.

Reference list

Jarvis, D.L. (2018). Natterjack toads – rare native to National Parks. [online] Campaign for national parks. Available at: https://www.cnp.org.uk/blog/natterjack-toads-–-rare-native-national-parks.

Discover Wildlife. (2022). Adder guide: how to identify, what they eat and how to avoid being bitten. [online] Available at: https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/reptiles/facts-about-adders/.

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