The riddle of the sands

It might look like I am on holiday in the Sahara but no such luck - welcome to the Sands of Forvie in NE Scotland lying between the Ythan Estuary and the North Sea. These dunes are not only beautiful but of great scientific interest in that they are highly mobile and gradually move from South to North. Eventually they become stabilised, first by Marram Grass and then by heathland vegetation. The nice Mr Donald Trump, who is converting a similar stretch of dunes south of the Ythan into a golf course for the rich, sees this mobility as a major problem but promises us landscape-engineering to stop them from blowing away!

This is the leading edge of the largest dune showing a wonderful range of patterns, the result of wind and water. Last Saturday the same dune looked like this.