Credit: Genevieve Tompkins/RSPB
RSPB Scotland manages over 72,500 ha across 79 reserves, making up about half of the RSPB’s total UK land holding. Many of our reserves in Scotland are on legally protected sites: this means they are protected from damage and there are also obligations to manage protected sites in the best way possible for nature. As we face a climate and nature emergency, there is an urgent need and significant opportunity to make Scotland’s network of protected areas better for wildlife and to enable key habitats to thrive. Effectively managed protected sites are vital for delivering the target to protect 30% of Scotland’s land for nature by 2030 in a meaningful way that will help nature recover. Whilst progress has been made to improve protected areas in Scotland, there is still much to do to ensure Scotland’s best nature sites are well managed and effectively monitored to meet urgent climate and nature targets.
Through funding from the LIFE programme of the European Union, NatureScot and other funders and supporters, LIFE 100% for Nature has enabled us to implement conservation management across 11 reserves, carefully selected for their internationally important wildlife and habitats. The project aims to not only improve biodiversity on RSPB Scotland reserves, but also to share evidence, techniques and learnings to promote use of conservation practices within wider protected areas that will benefit nature, climate and people in the long run.
RSPB Scotland’s Culbin Sands reserve is one of the special places included in the LIFE 100% for Nature project. The reserve is located near the town of Nairn, stretching along part of the Culbin Bar Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Once part of one of the largest sand dune systems in Europe, the remaining sand dunes along with the saltmarsh, mudflats and shingle make up a complex and dynamic system shifting with the wind and tides. Nairn Bar, part of the Culbin Bar SAC, is one of the finest examples of a storm shingle ridge in Europe.
The reserve is important for a number of species including Dingy Skipper and Small Blue butterflies, and a variety of specialist dune plants and fungi. Naturally functioning coastal dune habitats are also excellent carbon stores and serve as natural flood defences for the land behind, absorbing storm energy, which is increasingly important as we experience more volatile weather events.
Threats to the habitat
Over the years, invasive scrub and trees have become established on the dune system. Vegetation like Sitka Spruce and Scots Pine would not naturally be found on the dunes at Culbin Sands, but the adjacent Culbin Forest provides a steady seed source. If left unchecked, the trees will become mature and offer shade and shelter for scrubby species like Silver Birch, Gorse and Broom to establish, eventually turning to woodland. This change in vegetation reduces the open areas of habitat and prevents the natural movement of the dunes. Sunny open habitats are crucial for the many specialist dune plants and invertebrates like Small Blue butterflies that rely on warm, sandy areas. The vegetated shingle ridge has also suffered from the colonisation of scrub and trees, which impact on the rich dune heathland and rare lichen communities found there.
Through the LIFE 100% for Nature project, funding has been awarded for a dedicated Project Officer and the equipment needed to remove the invasive scrub from the dunes within the RSPB reserve area. The management takes place during a strict timeframe, between October and February each year, to minimise impact on nesting birds and other species. Over the course of the 5-year project, we hope to remove all invasive scrub from the dunes and restore the balance of scrub and open heath on the shingle bar.
Credit: RSPB
People power
Culbin Sands dune system can only be accessed on foot, across the sensitive saltmarsh between Culbin Forest and the dunes. It is not possible for heavy machinery or vehicles to be used, as this would damage the delicate saltmarsh. Historical vehicle damage is unfortunately still visible, with tracks scarring the saltmarsh, making it all the more apparent as to why people power is the answer. The removal of scrub and trees is all being done by hand by a dedicated team of volunteers and reserve staff. Before work can even begin, each work party walks for up to an hour or more to get to the remote scrub clearance areas.
“You can cover up to 200m in a day with 10 of you. And that really makes a difference, as that’s an area of mature scrub you’re not going to have to fell and deal with in 5 years’ time.”
– David Tompkins, LIFE 100% for Nature Project Officer
The project has funded a range of tools and equipment to tackle the unwanted vegetation, including battery-powered chainsaws to reduce the carbon impact of our management. These are lightweight and remove the risk of fuel spillage on the sensitive habitat. All of the tools needed have to be painstakingly carried to where the work is taking place. The reward for the trek across the saltmarsh and along the dunes is clear though – this is a unique and special place, with breath-taking views of the north-east coast of Scotland.
Credit: David Tompkins/RSPB
How to deal with the waste material?
As vehicles or machinery can’t be used, waste vegetation has to be dealt with on site. To do this, the team undertakes controlled burning, when the weather conditions are right and with precautionary measures in place, including buckets of water, fire beaters and alerting the local fire service in advance to notify them of the controlled fire on site. If the tree cuttings and material were left in situ, they would decompose and impact on the delicate balance of the dune system, adding more organic material into the sand and allowing more vigorous plant species to grow, outcompeting the special sand dune vegetation. Brash left behind can also reduce the dynamism of the habitat, both directly (a barrier to sand movement) and indirectly (providing shelter for undesirable vegetation to establish).
Restoring the habitat after many years of work
A critical part of the clearance process is preventing the return of the scrub and trees in the dune habitat. Specialist tools, like tree poppers, are used to remove seedlings of hardy plants like Broom that can be quick to re-establish. This follow-up work is important to support the intensive clearance efforts by the team and to keep any regrowth in check over time.
A volunteer using a tree popper Credit: David Tompkins/RSPB
Each year after the management is carried out over the winter period, we monitor the progress of clearance of the invasive scrub and the return of plants that would naturally be on the dune habitat, like Marram grass that thrives in the more windswept, mobile areas. We’re already seeing an amazing difference in the amount of scrub that has been removed and the gradual return to more open areas of dune habitat and re-balance of vegetation on the shingle bar. This gives us hope that we are slowly and carefully winning the battle to help return Culbin Sands to the wild and windswept habitat that is so rare and precious.
View of the saltmarsh and dune in autumn 2020, early in the project. Credit: David Tompkins/RSPB
View of the saltmarsh and dune, two years on, during 2022. Credit: David Tompkins/RSPB
Thank you
The work taking place at Culbin Sands would not be possible without the fantastic efforts of our committed volunteers. We would like to extend our thanks to them for helping to make this important project possible.
If you would like to hear more about Culbin Sands restoration work or to become a volunteer on the project, please contact: David.Tompkins@RSPB.ORG.UK
You can watch a short film about the project at Culbin Sands here, and also keep up to date with other developments across the LIFE 100% for Nature sites here.