- Children and young people reminded not to sledge on sand dunes
- Expert says sledging can have an extremely detrimental effect on the areas plant life
- From the archives – see pictures of how the dunes have been used in the past
- Do you think sledging should be allowed on the sand dunes? Take part in our poll below
CHILDREN and young people are being reminded that they must not go sledging on the sand dunes in St Ouen’s Bay.
John Pinel, the principal ecologist for the States, has said what might seem like harmless fun can have an extremely detrimental effect on the area’s plant life.
The sand dunes are designated as an ecological Site of Specialist Interest and Mr Pinel said it is home to more than 440 species of flora – some of which are only found in Jersey.
In May, Grasslands and Dunes were the subject of our monthly Nature Watch photographic competition.
He is now urging Islanders to not sledge on the site as he claims it can uproot plants and dislodge sand which can ‘smother’ plants when blown by the wind.
The area is protected by several laws and, in theory, people who cause damage to the area can be fined up to £5,000. However, Mr Pinel said that they would never look to prosecute a child and when they catch people sledging they simply ‘ask them to move on’.
He added: ‘The whole of the sand dunes is a dedicated ecological Site of Special Interest, it is one of the best sand dunes in north-west Europe in terms of the variety of its flora. There are over 440 different species and that is very diverse for such a small area and a lot of those plants are very rare and some are isolated just to Jersey.’
Mr Pinel said the ‘broad footprint’ of sledges up-rooted plants and ‘dislodged sand’ and was therefore more harmful than other activities.
‘We hugely encourage people to interact with the sand dunes and there are all sorts of other things to do there,’ he added.
Mr Pinel added that dog mess was also a ‘huge problem’ on the dunes.
He said: ‘There has been some success with recent clearances but it is that bad that we have a case where the areas where people walk from car parks onto the dunes has becomes so enriched by faeces that it had encouraged completely different vegetation to grow.’
