Camber dunes information

The sand dunes at Camber are a popular resource for students researching coastal, recreational and conservation issues.

Location and ownership

Camber Sands
Camber Sands

Camber Sands is towards the eastern end of the East Sussex coast and is the only sand dune system in East Sussex.

A large section of the western end of the dunes lie within the Camber Sands and Rye Saltings Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), while the rest is designated a Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI). Camber village lies behind the dunes towards the eastern end.

East Sussex County Council owns the sand dunes towards the eastern end, covering about 53 acres. Rye Golf Club owns the western end, up to the harbour arm. Rother District Council owns and manages the car parks and beach areas next to the dunes.

Geomorphology

Dune systems are formed by an interaction between geology, tide, sun, wind and vegetation. Sand is deposited along the coast; when the tide goes out (almost 1km at Camber) the sand is dried by the sun and wind, and blown inland by the prevailing south-westerly wind. This process is called saltation.

When the sand meets an obstruction, eg vegetation and the wind speed drops, the sand is deposited and forms dunes.

The dunes can be divided into three distinct zones:

  • embryonic fore dunes
  • unstable yellow dunes running parallel with the coast
  • stable grey dunes located on the golf course towards the western end of the system

Camber is an accreting dune system, which means the dunes are gradually getting bigger. 7,500 cubic metres of sand are deposited here every year.

Camber is part of the Dungeness cuspate foreland, a triangular mass of shingle formed after the last ice age. The dunes have formed within the last 350 years and are now restricted by urban development.

The dune system is wedge-shaped, 1km wide in the West tapering to 10 metres wide in the East, after a distance of 3km.

Wildlife

The sand dunes contain important animal and plant communities.

The plants are an important habitat for moths. Many scarce species have been recorded here, including:

  • Sand Dart (Agrostis ripae)
  • Shore Waistcoat (Mythimna litoralis)
  • White Colon (Sideridis albicon)

The dunes are an important site for wintering birds. The following species have all been spotted:

  • Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
  • Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
  • Snow Bunting (Plectrophenox nivdis)
  • Stonechat (Saxicola rubetra)
  • Sanderling (Calidris alba)

There are also many beetles, with the dunes being the only place in the county where you can find the beetle Bradycellus distnctus.

Surveys carried out at Camber Sands using the National Vegetation Classification system, identified these habitat types:

  • fore dune
  • shingle
  • dune scrub
  • inter tidal
  • woodland
  • acid dune grassland

Current management

Nature Conservation

An area of Sea Buckthorn is cut and burnt each year between October and February and the regrowth sprayed the following spring.

Visitors are encouraged to keep to the paths over the dunes. Many plants on the dunes are very fragile and are damaged by visitors trampling them. Vegetation along the paths is cleared during the summer to keep paths open.

Sea buckthorn
Sea buckthorn

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