~Winterton Dunes - Trip Report ~

During this trip to Winterton Dunes, we undertook tasks:

Transect

We ran a transect from the seashore, through the dune systems to see the changes from foredunes to mature dunes. This was done using quadrats, where we recorded the following:

• Number of plant species
• Tallest vegetation height (cm)
• % Cover of sand
• any other notes (droppings, disturbance etc.)

The raw data is shown below

Of particular interest was the change in plant diversity across the transect. 

Between 0 and 200m there is an obvious positive correlation: as you move further from the sea, plant diversity increases. This is possibly due to the reducing hostility of the environment, with greater protection from wind and a reduced risk of salt water inundation.

After 200m however, plant diversity decreases slightly (though plateaus almost immediately). There are a number of possible explanations for this. Increased grazing activity by rabbits and sheep was noticed on the landward side of the dunes, with the more mature dunes providing the necessary stability for rabbit warrens perhaps. Alternatively (though likely a combination of different factors), the varying topography of the dunes could have had an impact. 

Disturbance impact on lichen

For this we used systematically placed quadrants at fixed distances from the footpath in order to measure any difference in lichen cover at different distances from the path. If Lichen cover decreased closer to the path, this could indicate that disturbance from visitors using the footpath is having an impact. The results are shown below:

 These results do suggest a positive correlation between distance from the path (thus less disturbance) and the mean % cover of lichen.

Given more time, it would have been good to cover more than 6 sections of footpath. Ideally, a number of the footpaths criss-crossing the site could be investigated and perhaps cross-referenced with the amount of disturbance (footfall) each of these paths gets. 

Given the task of increasing lichen distribution, I would be inclined to rope areas with particularly low lichen density (but with potential for high density) to reduce impact. I would also introduce signs both to educate people about the importance of lichen for the NNR (and how this status prevents it from becoming a golf course etc.) along with notices to request that dogs are kept on leads (this will provide further protection for ground-nesting birds that use the dunes).