NO6949 Although the sandy beach at this location indicates that it is predominately a place of coastal deposition, the attached photo also indicates that it is also a place where the line of coastal dunes are being eroded. The photo shows tank traps in the form of Dragon’s Teeth or pimples. Also lying on the beach in close proximity to the tank traps is a concrete fence post and its underpinnings. This post would have helped to support a barbed wire fence which ran along the coast here as a defence against a possible invasion during WW11. Some remaining posts can be seen on the seaward edge of the dunes. Further evidence of coastal erosion can be deduced from clumps of vegetation which have fallen from the dunes above onto the beach below.
A discussion point concerns possible coastal defences against erosion for this part of Lunan Bay. These need not be expensive, hard engineering, solutions but could be soft defences like maintaining the existing bank of marram grass in a healthy state and supplementing the grass cover with deep rooted, native species of bushes.
Adrian L Diack, M.A. (Hons)
NO6949 : Dragons Teeth and a concrete post on Lunan Bay beach