Shingle on the Cusp

Vegetated shingle is an incredible habitat which tells the story of how nature battles the elements to create fantastic diversity in the harshest of settings. From yellow horned poppies to Sussex emerald moths, it is home to a range of highly specialised and in many cases extremely rare plants and animals some of which are found on Dungeness and nowhere else in the world! The key threat to this habitat is disturbance. Simply walking across the stones can disturb the fragile root systems of plants or nesting burrows of invertebrates. So things such as visitor pressure, machinery movements, military exercises during WWII and since, gravel extraction and beach replenishment activities all have significant impacts on this rare and valuable habitat. To combat these pressures the project is focussing in three separate areas; Firstly, trial vegetation restoration plots, secondly, invasive species control and finally education.

Shingle on the Cusp contributes to Restore project theme.