When shingle gets disturbed
30th January 2008, WednesdayLet me stress straight away that generally on Dungeness conservationists do not want the shingle to be disturbed. Much of the nature conservation interest is best protected by leaving it alone to develop naturally. The geomorphologically important ridges that show how the site was built by the sea can be permanently destroyed by disturbance for instance. And some of the old vegetation communities can also take decades (if not more) to recover if disturbance is extensive. But, when it happens the results can be spectacular…………….
The vegetation of the false oat-grass grassland on Dungeness has the potential to recover if damaged. The shingle, it appears, is full of seed of ruderal species and when they are uncovered they can have their year or two of glory. Two good examples I can think of were situations where the SSSI was damaged illegally- by the bull-dozing of shingle in one instance, and in the other by a plot holder who decided it would help control their garden vegetation if the plot was sprayed with herbicide!
Neither action was welcome, but in both instances a year and a half later the shingle turned brilliant blue with a super-abundance of viper’s-bugloss Echium vulgare, with other species also able to take advantage such as foxglove Digitalis purpurea, and poppies Papaver spp. in the spraying incident.
These short-lived communities persisted for a couple of years, fading in the second summer, as the more typical plants of the false oat-grass grassland started to wrest control again.
On a small scale this sort of disturbance is always going on, giving rise to patches of viper’s-bugloss and other species. Where rabbits dig in the shingle, or a car goes off the road but it is unusual to see it on this scale because most land-owners at Dungeness respect the site and it’s high nature conservation value.
There are some rare species who need this sort of management (carefully planned, about which more at a later date) but the philosphy behind conserving the Dungeness shingle is that where the gravel is relatively natural it is best left alone. Where there has been a history of disturbance, and the original features have been destroyed, then there is potential to garden the gravel to keep the rarer weedier species going without damaging anything that is sensitive and rare, but this is a course of action that needs discussing with Natural England before you embark down this colourful route. Certainly if you do it, everyone will know come June!