Winterton Dunes is an extensive

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

system on the east coast of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, which has been designated as a National Nature Reserve of 109 ha. Winterton Dunes is within the

Norfolk Coast AONB The Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is a protected landscape in Norfolk, England. It covers over 450 km2 of coastal and agricultural land from The Wash in the west through coastal marshes and cliffs to the sand dunes at Wi ...

. The site is unusual in that it shows greater ecological similarities to the dune systems of the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

- which support acidic plant communities - rather than the dunes on the North Norfolk Coast - where the sand is

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...

. The site supports well developed areas of dune

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

, wet 'slacks' between dunes and dune

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

which grades into

grazing marsh Grazing marsh is a British Isles term for flat, marshy grassland in polders. It consists of large grass fields separated by fresh or brackish ditches, and is often important for its wildlife. History Grazing marshes were created from medieval ti ...

and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

Fauna

Natterjack toad The natterjack toad (''Epidalea calamita'') is a toad native to sandy and heathland areas of Europe. Adults are 60–70 mm in length, and are distinguished from common toads by a yellow line down the middle of the back and parallel paratoid g ...

s breed in shallow pools within the site. The site, along with the adjoining

Horsey Dunes Horsey Dunes is an extensive dune system on the east coast of Norfolk, England. It is owned by the National Trust and is within the Norfolk Coast AONB. It is sometimes known as Horsey Gap. To the south is the adjacent SSSI Winterton Dunes - it is ...

, hosts the largest colonies of

dark green fritillary The dark green fritillary (''Speyeria aglaja'') is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. The insect has a wide range in the Palearctic realm - Europe, Morocco, Iran, Siberia, Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan. Description in Seit ...

and grayling butterflies in Norfolk. Other butterflies recorded from here in numbers include

small copper ''Lycaena phlaeas'', the small copper, American copper, or common copper, is a butterfly of the Lycaenids or gossamer-winged butterfly family. According to Guppy and Shepard (2001), its specific name ''phlaeas'' is said to be derived eithe ...

and

common blue The common blue butterfly or European common blue (''Polyommatus icarus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae and subfamily Polyommatinae. The butterfly is found throughout the Palearctic. Butterflies in the Polyommatinae are collectively c ...

. The ponds among the dunes are home to many dragonflies including the

common hawker The common hawker, moorland hawker or sedge darner (''Aeshna juncea'') is one of the larger species of hawker dragonflies. It is native to Palearctic (from Ireland to Japan) and northern North America. The flight period is from June to early Oc ...

- which is rare in Norfolk. Winterton Dunes is also known as the first site in Britain where the southern emerald damselfly occurred (Nobes 2003). After a count in 2014 by the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

they found that the dunes are the home to more than 300 pairs of the

little tern The little tern (''Sternula albifrons'') is a seabird of the family Laridae. It was formerly placed into the genus ''Sterna'', which now is restricted to the large white terns. The genus name is a diminutive of ''Sterna'', "tern". The specific '' ...

making it the UK's largest colony.BBC Norfolk news report
Retrieved 4 July 2014

References

* Nobes, Geoff (2003) Southern Emerald Damselfly ''Lestes barbarus'' (Fabr.) - The First British Record

Atropos Atropos (; grc, Ἄτροπος "without turn") or Aisa, in Greek mythology, was one of the three Moirai, goddesses of fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta. Atropos was the oldest of the Three Fates, and was known as "the Inflex ...

No. 18 pp. 3–6

External links

Natural England - Winterton NNR
Nature Conservation Review sites Dunes of England Coastal features of Norfolk Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Norfolk {{Norfolk-geo-stub