Fistral Sand Dunes

Now I have to admit straight up, this wasn't a trip exclusively to ID lots of wonderful plants and animals. I was at Fistral on a mission with EcoSoc and Cornwall Council: remove the invasive species Rosa (Rosa rugosa) from the sand dunes to help preserve a threatened habitat. Rosa itself is a plant native to eastern Asia, earning the name 'Japanese Rose'. Therefore, it won't be going on my species list, but I thought I'd show you some pictures because it's a really interesting plant:

The flower of 'Japanese Rose'...

...And the fruit!

The reason it is on the dunes at Fistral is a common problem associated with invasives; it is a 'garden variety', grown in many people's gardens due to it's attractive flowers and relatively low maintenance requirements. It has managed to escape, and is prevalent across many sand dunes in Europe.

So whilst we were at Fistral, I of course took advantage of the native species to flesh out my little blog! So I'll start with a very common sand dune specialist, Marram Grass (Ammophila arenaria).

Marram Grass, interspersed with the pesky Rosa!

Marram grass is a favourite of mine.It is one of the first dune species I learnt as part of a school geography project based at Studland in Dorset. It has therefore earned the title of first land plant on my list! It plays a really important role in the ecology and succession of sand dunes. It is a 'pioneer species' which helps colonise the dunes, and slowly turns the soil more acidic and fertile through the 'leaching' of nutrients when the plant dies and rots in the sand. This is the beginning of the succession process, which eventually ends with the 'climax community' - a group of organisms at a stable or self-perpetuating state. In the UK, our main climax community is broad leafed woodland (particularly oak).

Back to the dunes at Fistral. My next spot was a great little gastropod I first came across at Polzeath last year; the Vineyard Snail (Cernuella virgata).

The Vineyard Snail

They are really curious little creatures, and whilst researching for this post, I discovered that they have a very bizarre mating rituals. For the purpose of mating, they create 'love darts'. Love darts are calcareous (or chitinous) spiny projections, covered in mucus, which both hermaphroditic partners pierce into their mates' skin. The use of this dart is somewhat unclear, but some research (http://jeb.biologists.org/content/201/15/2313.short) has shown that the mucus which covers the dart can cause the female reproductive tract to move more sperm to the ova, and shut off the canal to an organ which digests sperm!

On to the next species, and another plant. We were also tackling Sea-buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) at Fistral. Although a native plant, we were removing it to allow other, rarer plants to establish themselves, and to improve the habitat for animal species, perhaps through managing the process of succession... In other words, I'm not entirely sure why we were removing it, but they are the plausible excuses I've come up with!

The last two species from this trip come in the form of caterpillars. Firstly, this little caterpillar is the Buff Ermine Moth (Spilosoma luteum):

An early 'instar' Buff Ermine caterpillar!

And then the second species we found was the fantastic Fox Moth (Macrothylacia rubi) caterpillar:

The beautiful Fox Moth caterpillar!

It would have taken me a good while to find the names of both these species out, but luckily I discovered them thanks to some very clever naturey friends on good old Facebook! Apparently the caterpillars of Buff Ermines undergo quite a transformation in their larval stage, from how they look in my picture above, to being much more hairy and browner! These little beauties have certainly increased my new found love of lepidopterans!

On a final little note, the reason for our work at Fistral all comes down to some slightly sad news. Behind the dunes, a rather large golf course has been built. This prevents the dunes from spreading backwards and for much succession of species to occur. And at the fore of the dunes is the beach, which is a HUGE tourist draw and therefore economic asset to Newquay. Therefore, the stakeholders of the beach would not be keen to see piles of seaweed etc., which play a crucial role in helping embryo dunes form, on the beach, as the smell and aesthetic would potentially put off visitors.

In light of this, Cornwall Council is managing the dunes in a state of 'Plagioclimax' - a term which means that the community found in the dunes is the final stage of succession as humans are managing the habitat and keeping it in a (relatively) stable state. The council are doing this to protect the important habitat of the first stages of succession, which supports a wide array of specialist species, and is rare in the rest of the UK. Hopefully the association between Cornwall Council and EcoSoc can continue, and we can help protect this incredible habitat.

All in all it was a great day spent in Newquay, with some brilliant people and some very impressive wildlife.