Devon

On the north Devon coast, we have worked at two large sand dune systems; Braunton Burrows and Woolacombe Dunes.

Braunton Burrows

Beautiful Braunton Burrows is home to the second largest sand dune system in the UK and, as it’s an internationally important site for wildlife and sand dune habitats, the area is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and part of the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Since the 1950s, the landscape here has become increasingly vegetated. Fast and widespread growth of shrubs and plants which stabilise the sand mean that lots of early successional dune stages – young, mobile dunes which have lots of bare sand – have been lost. As a result, many of the threatened species that live in these dunes have been rapidly declining – some have even become extinct from the area.

Our work here has involved working with MOD and creating new areas of bare sand. These have given barren sand-loving wildlife, like sand lizards and a huge variety of plants, places where they can thrive again. More sand is then available to move through the area and build up dune ridges. As we have removed scrub that is taking over areas of the dunes, we’ve also been removing invasive plant species such as Japanese rose and sea buckthorn. These plants, which don’t usually grow at this site, can grow very quickly and outcompete native species which have always been a part of this landscape. We’ve also restored dune slacks; by removing some of the fast-growing willow species, we have improved the slack pools which are essential for many of the dunes’ important amphibian species.

The Braunton Burrows dune system is also an important historic site, as the dunes were used for wartime training by the military as they prepared for D-Day. The remaining relics of the area’s history are protected and our conservation works have avoided these sites to uphold Braunton’s heritage.

Braunton Burrows - Cattle Grazing Looking At Camera

Our project in Devon has helped to rejuvenate sand dune systems at Braunton Burrows and Woolacombe. Work in Devon was led by Plantlife and National Trust, working closely with Christie Estates and MOD.

Woolacombe

Woolacombe itself is a seaside resort on the coast of North Devon, England, which lies at the mouth of a valley (or 'combe') in the parish of Mortehoe. Famous for its sandy, gently sloping beach stretching 3 miles (4.8 km) in length, Woolacombe forms part of the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, designated in 1960.

The work on the sand dunes at Woolacombe included removing and breaking up some of the dense scrub. To move away from using mechanical mowers, the North Devon Ruby Red cattle, known as ‘The Ladies’, break up the dense bramble on the dunes as they graze, creating a range of height and variety in the plant life. This has made the dunes a much healthier habitat in which insects and wildflowers can flourish again.

The National Trust are now using new GPS technology to help them graze the dunes, using Nofence collars on the cattle. This means physical fences and turnstiles are not needed, allowing the rolling dunes to keep their natural character!

Achievements at a glance

The teams in Devon have achieved a lot over the course of the project! You can find out more about these and the project's wider achievements in our Summary Report.

58ha of sand dune rejuvenation

37.7ha of wetland rejuvenation

232 events held

56,700 people engaged

Wildlife you might see in Devon

Braunton Burrows is an important site for many plant species, including petalwort, the purple-flowering dune gentian, water germander and the nationally rare scrambled egg lichen which lives in areas of short vegetation.

The pretty amber sand-bowl snail can now be found in many of the wet dune slacks at Braunton Burrows thanks to previous conservation efforts, and are only found in one other place in the UK!

On sunny days you might see sand lizards sunbathing on the sand or bare ground on the foredunes of Braunton Burrows, and common lizards further back in the dune system.

North Devon's dunes are also home to a flurry of beautiful insects like the cinnamon bug, including myriad butterflies like the common blue, meadow brown and the small white.

Wildflowers such as blue viper's-bugloss, yellow ragwort, pink restharow and pink-green marsh heleborine can be seen adding splashes of colour in low grassland on Braunton Burrows.

Rabbits are present on Woolacombe and Braunton Burrows, and help to keep grassland vegetation in check.