Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The bay is the wildest, bleakest and barrenest I know - 4 or 5 miles of yellow coldness going away
into the distance of the sea.
Dylan Thomas, describing Rhossili Bay in a letter
P
HOTOGRAPHS OF
the beaches and dunes figure prominently in the holiday brochures and tourist
guides and they are the focus of many people's visit to the peninsula. Few of the visitors, however, are
aware of the wealth of wildlife that occurs in the beaches and dunes, much of which exists literally under
their feet. These dynamic and constantly changing systems, sculpted by the winds and waves, and origin-
ating for the most part in the sands and gravels ground out by the glaciers of the last ice age, are some of
the most natural habitats in the peninsula. They represent an internationally important resource for wildlife
conservation, supporting many ecosystems and species of European importance. In particular the plant life
oftheGowerdunesisextremely rich;theyarealsonationally important forawidevariety ofinvertebrates.
The scale of the habitat is also surprising, with the vast sandy beaches giving way to extensive sand-
dunesystems,manyofwhichgradeintootherhabitatssuchassaltmarshesorwoodlands.Wherethebeach
materialisoflargersizeanumberofshinglebeacheshaveformed.Ithasbeenestimatedthatthesand-dune
systems alone cover over 840 hectares, and with probably an equal area of beach at low tide it means that
thesehabitatscoveratleast1,600hectares.WhitefordBurrows,aNationalNatureReserve,includesoneof
thelargestundisturbedcalcareous dunesystemsinBritain, withthedunescoveringnearly400hectares out
of the total area of 827 hectares (Fig. 71). The remaining habitats consist of beach, salt marsh and former
glacial moraine.
