Coastal Shingle and Dunes

Suffolk holds some of the most remarkable coastal geomorphology in Britain. Orford Ness is the longest vegetated shingle spit in Europe, stretching approximately 16 kilometres southward and supporting plant communities – dominated by sea campion, yellow-horned poppy, and sea pea – found almost nowhere else at this scale in the world. Shingle beaches and dune systems elsewhere along the coast, at Landguard, Minsmere and Walberswick, add further extent to habitats that are globally rare and largely irreplaceable.

These are extreme environments. The porous, drought-prone soils of dune systems and the unstable, high-albedo surface of shingle beaches support only highly specialised communities: plants adapted to salt spray, wind exposure, and nutrient poverty; invertebrates dependent on bare, warm ground; and birds that nest directly on the substrate with no shelter. That vulnerability is also a source of ecological richness – provided disturbance is managed carefully.

The little tern (Sternula albifrons) is the flagship species for this assemblage and one of the most demanding conservation subjects on the Suffolk coast. East Anglia holds close to half of the UK’s breeding population, and Suffolk’s shingle beaches are critical to its survival. Colonies are highly vulnerable to flooding during spring tides, predation, and recreational disturbance, and require intensive wardening throughout the breeding season. Natterjack toads persist on dune systems at a small number of sites, and a suite of specialist invertebrates – including several spider species with very restricted national ranges – depend on the bare and semi-vegetated ground that characterises healthy dune and shingle habitats.