When you go for a walk through our Hinterland, what do you see? Ash Balderson, former Gardens & Grounds Lead for the Findhorn Foundation, suggests you look closely: there’s more than meets the eye. Then, ecologist Sean Reed explains that he’ll be reviewing the FHT’s five-year Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP).
FROM ASH: Aside from the great variety of lovely trees, with luck you’ll see a red squirrel or two. The gorse may be in flower and the heather, of course, and at this time of year there is a plethora of different birds and quite a few insects around. But have you ever looked more closely, especially in the areas of sandy heathland that are less conventionally ‘pretty’? It may surprise you just how much life there is right here in our backyard, and some of them are very rare species.
Findhorn’s sand dunes were once part of the second largest dune system in the whole of Europe, but now only very small fragments of that wild ecosystem remain. Because the Hinterland is such a small fragment of a very scarce ecosystem, we have created a conservation plan to preserve and nourish this special environment and all the species that still survive here. The plan is called a Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP), and for me personally, it helped me appreciate just how many rare and endangered species we have on our doorstep. Do have a look at it on the Trust’s Ecology page.
Many of these species are not as obvious as the red squirrels and yellowhammers. We have some of the rarest living things in the world, such as the sandy earthtongue fungus that only grows in one other place in Scotland. We have nationally rare butterflies and an orchid (ladies tresses), many moths and flies that are on the red list, and one fungus that is not known anywhere else in the UK – and it grows on a lichen that is itself an endangered species!
Our LBAP for the Hinterland is a five-year plan to conserve this unique environment and ecosystem and hopefully encourage these rare species to thrive.
It’s remarkable but in the Findhorn dunes we have so far recorded seven nationally rare and 23 nationally scarce lichens – just in this tiny little corner of Moray! We haven’t even begun to study all the beetles and invertebrates, and more unusual fungi, moulds and lichen are being discovered all the time. So when next time you go for a walk on the wild side, take a moment, and take it all in. This is a very special place indeed!
FROM ECOLOGIST SEAN REED: Balancing gorse and sandy habitats, dune restoration and protecting the Hinterland’s impressive number of rare species are all part of the review of the FHT’s five-year Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP).
Sean Reed
This year sees me reviewing the FHT’s 2020 five-year Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP), which can be accessed via the Trust’s Ecology page.
The 2020 LBAP raised the profile of sandy habitats, which are under threat of scrub encroachment, as a top priority for action on the Hinterland. Sandy dune habitats, and the species that they support, are recognised in the Scottish government’s Biodiversity List (SBL), which underpins the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. The aim of the Strategy is to make the country ‘Nature Positive’ by 2030 and restore and regenerate biodiversity by 2045. The FHT can make a small but important contribution to this national objective.
As in any emergency, priorities are important in the Nature Crisis, to ensure that limited resources are directed where they are needed the most, so that species do not become extinct and resilient wildlife populations are restored. The SBL identifies these priorities, based on a mountain of surveys and research, largely through citizen science. Biodiversity surveys on the Hinterland over the last 10 years or so have revealed a very impressive number of SBL species on the Hinterland – all of which must be considered carefully in our land custodianship.
Red-banded sand wasp. Photo:Alan Watson Featherstone
A lot has happened since 2020, not least the Covid pandemic, which set the FHT’s plans for dune restoration back by three years. Once we got back into action, however, a fantastic effort was made to catch up on this, culminating in 8 300m2 of dense gorse being converted to bare sand, providing homes for super-rare specialist sand dune species for many years to come.
It was very gratifying to receive recognition for this work earlier in the year – and for our long-term nature recovery plans – from the government’s nature adviser, NatureScot. The Hinterland is now under consideration for designation as a site that is officially contributing to the 2030 national nature recovery target.
We all love the gorse, especially at this time of year. It has its own biodiversity value, which must be considered. We are not aiming to get rid of gorse, but to create a healthier balance between gorse and sandy habitats, through careful and targeted gorse removal.
The art and science of sand dune restoration is still quite new. Up until recently, management of sand dunes was directed at stabilising them. This has unfortunately contributed to habitat fragmentation and loss, so that natural sand dunes are now extremely rare across Europe.
Endangered Felt Lichen. Photo Heather Paul
One very significant thing that happened during Covid was the publication of the Sand Dune Managers Handbook, with a second edition published in 2024: These excellent publications confirmed that the FHT is on the right track and it is now a matter of refining our approach for the next five years, which of course includes plans for our wonderful woodland and grassland habitats as well!
You may be interested to know that planning for nature was also central to the developments of North Whins, where natural sandy habitats are incorporated within the landscaping of the communal ground between houses, in the spirit of co-creation with nature. You can read more about the nature-friendly approach to housing development at the Whins in this earlier FHT post, and also on the community’s history archive, the Celebrating One Incredible Family website.
Planning for Nature Recovery – LBAP
When you go for a walk through our Hinterland, what do you see? Ash Balderson, former Gardens & Grounds Lead for the Findhorn Foundation, suggests you look closely: there’s more than meets the eye. Then, ecologist Sean Reed explains that he’ll be reviewing the FHT’s five-year Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP).
FROM ASH: Aside from the great variety of lovely trees, with luck you’ll see a red squirrel or two. The gorse may be in flower and the heather, of course, and at this time of year there is a plethora of different birds and quite a few insects around. But have you ever looked more closely, especially in the areas of sandy heathland that are less conventionally ‘pretty’? It may surprise you just how much life there is right here in our backyard, and some of them are very rare species.
Many of these species are not as obvious as the red squirrels and yellowhammers. We have some of the rarest living things in the world, such as the sandy earthtongue fungus that only grows in one other place in Scotland. We have nationally rare butterflies and an orchid (ladies tresses), many moths and flies that are on the red list, and one fungus that is not known anywhere else in the UK – and it grows on a lichen that is itself an endangered species!
Our LBAP for the Hinterland is a five-year plan to conserve this unique environment and ecosystem and hopefully encourage these rare species to thrive.
It’s remarkable but in the Findhorn dunes we have so far recorded seven nationally rare and 23 nationally scarce lichens – just in this tiny little corner of Moray! We haven’t even begun to study all the beetles and invertebrates, and more unusual fungi, moulds and lichen are being discovered all the time. So when next time you go for a walk on the wild side, take a moment, and take it all in. This is a very special place indeed!
FROM ECOLOGIST SEAN REED: Balancing gorse and sandy habitats, dune restoration and protecting the Hinterland’s impressive number of rare species are all part of the review of the FHT’s five-year Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP).
Sean Reed
This year sees me reviewing the FHT’s 2020 five-year Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP), which can be accessed via the Trust’s Ecology page.
The 2020 LBAP raised the profile of sandy habitats, which are under threat of scrub encroachment, as a top priority for action on the Hinterland. Sandy dune habitats, and the species that they support, are recognised in the Scottish government’s Biodiversity List (SBL), which underpins the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. The aim of the Strategy is to make the country ‘Nature Positive’ by 2030 and restore and regenerate biodiversity by 2045. The FHT can make a small but important contribution to this national objective.
As in any emergency, priorities are important in the Nature Crisis, to ensure that limited resources are directed where they are needed the most, so that species do not become extinct and resilient wildlife populations are restored. The SBL identifies these priorities, based on a mountain of surveys and research, largely through citizen science. Biodiversity surveys on the Hinterland over the last 10 years or so have revealed a very impressive number of SBL species on the Hinterland – all of which must be considered carefully in our land custodianship.
Red-banded sand wasp. Photo:Alan Watson Featherstone
A lot has happened since 2020, not least the Covid pandemic, which set the FHT’s plans for dune restoration back by three years. Once we got back into action, however, a fantastic effort was made to catch up on this, culminating in 8 300m2 of dense gorse being converted to bare sand, providing homes for super-rare specialist sand dune species for many years to come.
It was very gratifying to receive recognition for this work earlier in the year – and for our long-term nature recovery plans – from the government’s nature adviser, NatureScot. The Hinterland is now under consideration for designation as a site that is officially contributing to the 2030 national nature recovery target.
We all love the gorse, especially at this time of year. It has its own biodiversity value, which must be considered. We are not aiming to get rid of gorse, but to create a healthier balance between gorse and sandy habitats, through careful and targeted gorse removal.
The art and science of sand dune restoration is still quite new. Up until recently, management of sand dunes was directed at stabilising them. This has unfortunately contributed to habitat fragmentation and loss, so that natural sand dunes are now extremely rare across Europe.
Endangered Felt Lichen. Photo Heather Paul
One very significant thing that happened during Covid was the publication of the Sand Dune Managers Handbook, with a second edition published in 2024: These excellent publications confirmed that the FHT is on the right track and it is now a matter of refining our approach for the next five years, which of course includes plans for our wonderful woodland and grassland habitats as well!
You may be interested to know that planning for nature was also central to the developments of North Whins, where natural sandy habitats are incorporated within the landscaping of the communal ground between houses, in the spirit of co-creation with nature. You can read more about the nature-friendly approach to housing development at the Whins in this earlier FHT post, and also on the community’s history archive, the Celebrating One Incredible Family website.