EXPLORING WILDLIFE

Kerry’s threatened dune system

Gordon D'Arcy on the extraordinary flora and fauna to be found at Inch in West Kerry

West Kerry is a land of west-facing peninsulas. Inch sand spit bucks the trend by sitting at right-angles to the others, virtually cutting off Dingle Bay from the wild Atlantic. The 5km beach, backed by the dune peninsula, harbours Castlemaine’s vast area of mudflats and saltmarsh.

Though unsullied by caravan and mobile home emplacements and spared golf links modification – like so many of our dune systems – Inch is nevertheless a recreational magnet. The beach attracts thousands of bucket-and-spade and bathing enthusiasts; a surf school is in constant demand for would-be devotees; wind and kite surfers and paddle-boarders brave the everchanging Atlantic and resolute walkers and joggers undertake the daily ritual out and back along its length.

The dune hinterland is relatively unvisited save for courting couples and the odd illicit barbecue or pitched tent. However, a few deeply rutted horse trails and cross-country vehicular trackways caused by dune buggies indicate damaging abuse by a few.

Inch’s sand dune system is a mosaic of habitats and a floral paradise. The long dune ridge facing the sea, topographical testimony to the endless battle between accumulation and erosion, is dominated by marram grass. The peninsula owes its survival to the stabilizing effect of this grass and its associate, sand couch grass. Here and there the pink trumpets of sea bindweed, rocket, radish and the wide leaves of coltsfoot add variety. Yellow swathes of the tiny but delightful dune pansy festoon the leeward side of the dunes. In the sheltered hinterland, the marram gives way to a ground cover of mosses and lichens and more than 30 species of flowering plants. Yellow is again predominant in the carpets of lady’s bedstraw, hawkweeds and ragwort. But clusters of clover, vetch, bartsia and self-heal provide pink and purple relief. Common spotted and pyramidal orchids, like tiny lanterns, illuminate the sward. Speedwell and sheep’s bit add a hint of blue and violet to this watercolour scene.

Two delightful dune species add a magical dimension to the array: sea spurge, with red

Inch Beach by Carsten Kreiger

stemmed stalks and canopies of grey-green foliage, emerging in clusters from the sandy substrate like a miniature, exotic forest; and the spiky sprays of sea holly, silver grey with delicate mauve flower-heads, each a floral masterpiece that would not look out of place decorating a regal table.

Dune hollows support dowdier vegetation. Carpets of silverweed and creeping willow and occasional clumps of rush and willowherb suggest dampness and point to their former state as dune ‘slacks’ - fresh-water hollows. Many of these wet micro-habitats, supporting a specific flora and fauna, are still evident in dune systems around the Irish coast but at Inch they have lost their special significance. At one time they may well have supported west Kerry’s amphibious celebrity, the natterjack toad, whose breeding locations at Inch are now confined to a few soggy ponds at the base of the peninsula.

Inch’s invertebrate world bursts into life with the arrival of the sun. Hoverflies, bees and butterflies dance up from the marram grass and gaudy red and black burnet moths emerge from

their papery cocoons. The ground seems alive with the urgent toing and froing of ground beetles and wolf spiders. Legions of snails, mainly the attractive banded species of the Cepaea genus (particularly abundant due to the availability of calcium for shell building), emerge from their mossy retreats after the rain.

The dunes support plenty of ground-nesting birds including a healthy number of meadow pipits and skylarks. Stonechats call cheerily from fence-posts and flocks of young starlings forage for chafers in the grassy hollows. Wood pigeons, far from their normal habitat, exploiting clumps of seed-plants unseen, leap noisily upwards when disturbed.

People and livestock wandering into the dunes have a deleterious impact, but much less so than rabbits. Thousands inhabit Inch and their warrens are everywhere. It is sad to see the majestic dunes undermined and collapsing and uprooting their rich flora in the process. The stability of the entire dune ecosystem is clearly under threat by the impact of these destructive troglodytes.

Fox spoor and signs of an occasional predator kill indicate that the rabbits do not have it all their own way. However, until large raptors like buzzards return to the region, the ecological balance will remain decidedly out of kilter.

Until relatively recently the problem would have been tackled, inhumanely, by human intervention. Thankfully, myxomatosis no longer holds sway. We are all too aware in these pandemic days, however, that viral disease need not be intentional for it to devastate both human and wildlife populations.

A new viral pandemic, (RHD2), having apparently emanated in east Asia, is currently sweeping through European lagomorph populations. First noted in Ireland in 2019, it affects not only rabbits but also hares. While rabbit concentrations are an undoubted scourge in sensitive habitats like Inch, hares are not and both inhabit Inch. Given the indiscriminate nature of viral pandemics, wouldn’t it be a tragedy if the unintended (yet ecologically advantageous) control of the former species resulted in the elimination of the latter?