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Newborough Warren, Anglesey - summary
Newborough Warren is a sand dune system covering approximately 1300ha of blown
sand on the island of Anglesey in North Wales. The site includes a large planted
forest of some 720ha planted in the late 1950s and 60s. As with Braunton
Burrows, following the second World War there was much sand mobility.
Planting with Corsican pine took place from 1947 in an attempt to stabilise
the system and now covers approximately 45% of the dune. Here also, the advent
of myxomatosis may have been sufficient to reduce sand movement at that time.
Unlike Braunton, in the intervening years the development of coarse grassland
the scrub has been less rapid. However, there are signs that the developing
forest may be providing a seed source for the spread of pine onto the adjacent
open dune. In recognition of the potential threat to the vegetation, grazing
experiments have been in progress for the last ten years, and re-introduction
of domestic stock is now considered to be a priority.
Recent data from water table measurements suggest that the forest may also
be having an adverse impact on the dune water regime. The increased transpiration
from the growing forest canopy has resulted in a lowering of the water level
at some distance from the edge of the forest. This in turn appears to be encouraging
the establishment of seedlings of both pine and birch. A similar process is
occurring at Ainsdale National Nature Reserve on the Sefton
Coast in north west England.
The consequences of dune afforestation,
grazing (by rabbits)
and changes in grazing management regimes for the vegetation are well documented
(Rhind et al. 2001). The dilemmas facing
the conservation managers are as apparent here as anywhere.
| Guidance: Newborough Warren is another site, which illustrates
the speed that changes in the vegetation can take place on over-stable sand
dunes and the management required to overcome that change. The site shows
characteristics similar to many coastal sand dunes and is an excellent and
well documented example of the way in which dunes in the UK have moved from
SD
State 1 to SD
State 3 (at least over 50% of the site over a period of 50 years. |
References
Rhind, P.M., Blackstock, T.H., Hardy, H.S., Jones, R.E. & Sandison, W.
2001.
The evolution of Newborough Warren dune system with particualr reference to the past four decades.
In: Coastal Dune Management: Shared Experience of European Conservation Practice, eds.Houston, J.A., Edmondson, S.E. & Rooney, P.J.Liverpool University Press, 345-379.
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