Camber Sands - summary

Camber Sands is a small bay dune with an abundant sand supply lying within the Dungeness CHaMP. Recreational use in the 1930s when vehicles were allowed on to the beach, chalets and trampling pressures resulted in vegetation loss. Use as a site for training for an amphibious assault in the 1940s punched holes in the dunes and by 1945 most of the vegetation had gone. Further recreational pressure resulted in considerable sand movement threatening roads and houses. A major restoration programme was initiated in 1967 and within 4 years the dunes had been stabilised (Pizzey 1975). A combination of methods was applied:

• Chestnut fencing was placed on the shoreline along the arc of the bay;
• Marram planting in new shoreline dunes;
• Re-profiling of the dunes;
• Hydraulic reseeding.

By 1960 a 6m high dune had been established and the shoreline advanced 5-10m seaward. Today the sand fences continue to trap sand and access to the shoreline is restricted to specific walkways (there are no cars!).

References

Pizzey, J.M. 1975. Assessment of dune stabilisation at Camber, Sussex, using air photographs. Biological Conservation, 7., 275-288.