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Annex 09: Culbin Sands
Site Name: - Culbin Sands and Shingle Bar
Location
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Location the main shingle formations (including the Culbin Shingle
Bar) in relation to the other site features,
map after Doody 2001
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Culbin Shingle Bar - origins and
geomorphology
On the north coast of Moray a large expanse of shingle was deposited is one
of the least affected areas of shingle in the UK. Culbin Bar comprises a 7 km
raised offshore shingle barrier island. This is found lying off the south shore
of the Moray Firth and forms the outermost part of a much larger sand dune and
shingle ridge system (depicted above) and described by Ogilvie (1923) when many
of the natural features could still be seen. The bar itself runs on a NE - SW
axis, is similar in shape to Whiteness Head and has a maximum width of approximately
300 m. It is separated from the mainland part of the system by 1 mile of intertidal
sand flats and saltmarsh.
The origin of the bar (discussed in detail by Steers 1960) is thought to have
been as a spit growing out from the eastern shore of the River Findhorn. The
spit breached in the eighteenth century and has since migrated south west at
a rate of 12m per year. Currently the far western end of the bar is predominantly
a shingle feature, while towards the north east the bar is sand dominated. The
western and eastern sections are separated by a thin strip of active shingle
in the form of a storm crest. This is very narrow and could breach in major
storms. The migration of the bar occurs through the erosion of the eastern end
of the system with the active accretion at the western end.
The shingle bar forms a complex ridge system with 6 main shingle ridges which
have 4 - 5 central ridges within the lows between them. There is a large area
of largely bare shingle on the western foreshore where the only colonisers are
encrusting saxicolous lichens. The leeward edge of the bar displays major laterals
commonly associated with such shingle features. The laterals enclose saltmarsh.
The bare shingle ridges on the western section support only saxicolous lichens
but, where the sand content in, or on, the shingle increases, there is closed
vegetation with grassland and heathland communities along with some scrub development.
Indeed, there are five major communities illustrated at Culbin. The major trends
in vegetation patterns within the Culbin shingle are clearly related to the
dual maritime influences on the foreshore and lee shore with lowest levels of
influence in the centre of the bar. There is also good evidence of a maturity
gradient, which is aligned on a west-east axis representing the westward growth
of the bar. These are described in detail by Sneddon & Randall (1993).
Site issues
The Bar is an untouched remnant of the much larger area of shingle and sand
dune shown in the figure above. It is clear that, although not so well documented,
many of the exposed shingle ridges suffered a similar fate to the sand dunes,
with large areas having been planted with conifers (Steers 1973). Although areas
of intact bare and naturally vegetated parallel shingle ridges can still be
seen on the mainland part of the site, these are very restricted.
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Figure Culbin 01 An intact, undisturbed shingle ridge
on the Culbin Shingle Bar, Moray, Scotland, providing a yardstick for
other more disturbed sites.
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Access is difficult and the site shows a good series of shingle ridges running
parallel to the coast. This forms part of a much larger complex of shingle ridges,
sand dunes and saltmarshes lying between Nairn and Burghead.
Relevance to shingle restoration/re-creation
The principle value of this site lies in the way it is representative of an
almost completely natural system. Geomorpholgy including rates of movement,
development of vegetation and associated animal life have all be monitored (e.g.
Comber 1995; Comber et al. 1994; Fuller 1975) and provide a bench mark against
which to assess change at other sites with greater human interference.
Another important area of shingle lies to the west of the River Spey near Kingston.
Although shingle extraction here destroyed much of the ridge structure, probably
during the last war, some areas survive particularly at the seaward edge. Rich
heath and wet heath communities occur in the unafforested areas of both the
disturbed and undisturbed shingle (see report for Kingston Shingle and Spey
Bay).
References:
Comber, D.P.M., 1995. Culbin Sands and the Bar. Scottish Geographical Magazine,
111(1), 54-57.
Comber, D.P.M., Hansom, J.D. & Fahy, F.M., 1994. Culbin Sands, Culbin
Forest and Findhorn Bay, SSSI: Documentation and management prescription.
Scottish Natural Heritage Research Survey and Monitoring Report No. 14 , Edinburgh.
Doody, J.P., 2001. Coastal Conservation and Management: an Ecological Perspective.
Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, USA.
Fuller, R.M., 1975. The Culbin shingle bar and its vegetation. Transactions
of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 42, 293-305.
Ogilvie, A.G., 1923. The physiography of the Moray Firth coast. Transactions
of the Royal. Society of Edinburgh, 53 , 377-379.
Sneddon P, Randall R E, 1993c. Vegetated shingle structures survey of Great
Britain: Appendix 2 - Scotland. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.
Steers J A, 1973. The Coastline of Scotland. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
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