Why you’ll see diggers on the dunes...
IN THE run up to Christmas, visitors to the coast at Ainsdale may see heavy duty diggers working in the dunes south of Ainsdale Discovery Centre.
These mechanical beasts clear areas of scrub to improve habitat for our specialised dune species while they hibernate over the winter months.
Following recent articles about clearance on a smaller scale, with volunteer groups using hand tools and our Green Sefton team tackling more established scrub with chainsaws, some readers have expressed concern about the removal of this scrub.
If left unmanaged, dune systems give way to scrub woodland remarkably quickly, and while scrub is a valuable habitat in its own right, it can flourish in a number of situations, and attracts adaptive species that are not tied to specialised conditions.
Fieldfares and Redwings will haunt coastal scrub in winter – but they can also use similar scrub vegetation in hedgerows, farmland, parks and gardens.
The dune species the coastline receives much of its protection for however, are not adaptive and do not have the luxury of being able to colonise other habitats.
Natterjacks, Sand Lizards, Northern Dune Tiger Beetles and Petalwort – to name but a few – are completely dependent on open areas of sand, sunny clear pools and low vegetation, without which they will disappear.
So scrub must be cleared in winter to ensure the dunes remain attractive for these species when they emerge in spring.
The target areas for clearance works this side of Christmas are within the slacks in the Ainsdale Local Nature Reserve frontal dunes south of Ainsdale Discovery Centre.
This area used to offer productive breeding locations for Natterjack Toads, but in recent years numbers have dwindled due to the increase in scrub and factors such as disturbance, climatic change and other local environmental factors.
If an area is choked with scrub the Natterjacks struggle to find their way to pools, and if vegetation is too rank, conditions aren’t right for them to sing at the water’s edge.
Thick scrub also means females can’t locate males, no matter how loud they sing in spring!
Contractors will be targeting Sea Buckthorn on the lower, mid and upper slopes of these slacks as well as other areas of birch and willow scrub.
Some areas will remain untouched as they are already in good condition.
We will also try to tackle some of the Phragmites which has become dominant in the deeper open water section of the long narrow slack close to Ainsdale Discovery Centre, and possibly create a new scrape along its western fringe.
The method employed will be to dig and bury cleared scrub as deep as possible in order to try to prevent regrowth.
This will also depend to
John works for Green Sefton, the
Sefton Council service that brings together the coast & countryside, parks & green spaces, flooding & coastal erosion, risk management and grounds maintenance teams for a joined-up approach to the vital management, development and oversight of Sefton’s beautiful coastline, parks and green spaces.
This column looks at the flora, fauna and history of the coastline, and the work carried out to protect it. some extent on the water table, so there could be a need for controlled burning of removed scrub. Bury holes will be capped with excavated sand which should further add habitat diversity.
This will benefit other species including Northern Dune Tiger Beetle, other insects, plants and Sand Lizard, further complementing the works done last winter for the Dynamic Dunescapes programme.
After Christmas work will transfer to the grazing areas in the rear dunes.
The cleared areas will undoubtedly look stark for a time, but a visit to sites where this work has taken place in past years shows that the dune habitat recovers quickly.