Tentsmuir afforestation

As with Culbin Sands tree planting has taken place over a large part of the Tentsmuir dune system. Planting began in earnest in the early 1920s and was undertaken by the government's Forestry Commission agency. The extent of planting is shown in the Figure opposite:

Caption: Tentsmuir showing the extent of dune planted with artificial forest. The approximate limits of blown sand adjacent to the farmland are shown on the Figure. The open dune to the south is dune heath. The accreting dunes to the north east represent a series of foredunes, which have developed over the last 100 years or so and have been left unafforested.

The combination of lack of grazing by domestic stock, demise of the rabbit population and reduction in the level of the water table are though to have caused a rapid growth of scrub on the remaining open dune at Tentsmuir Point.

Comment: The accretion at Tentsmuir Point represents one of the few areas where rapidly accreting dunes can be found in the UK.