Bertra’s Beautiful Sand Dunes need a Breather
Local group hope temporary closure will be respected
‘World Sand Dune Day’ is celebrated globally on June 29th to raise awareness about the importance of sand dunes. Bertra Beach in County Mayo, Ireland, Bertra is internationally valued within a “Special Area of Conservation”. It has recently been awarded a Blue Flag due to water quality improvements. The Blue Flag also requires action on improving the quality of the sand dune habitat. Bertra Connected (a local community group) secured funding and engaged the ACT consultancy to see how improvements to Bertra Strand might be achieved. The outcome was published in 2023 as “The Bertra 2050 Vision”. ACT ran workshops, open to everyone and widely publicised, and had an open day in Westport to produce this collective vision, with of community stewardship at its core.
This year Bertra Connected, working with the County Council, and with the approval of the landowners and National Parks and Wildlife will implement a temporary closure of the sand dunes. Rope fencing and new signage is to be erected by volunteers, to deter walkers and pets from accessing the delicate sand dune structures at Bertra.
The numerous pathways through the sand dunes are compromising the integrity of the sand dunes themselves. This initiative will help the dunes recovery over the summer to strengthen them before next winter’s storms.
A popular walking spot for locals all year around. At high tide the walkers take to the dunes. The public have been advised through signage for the past few years of these damaging activities, including walking and running on the dunes, sliding down the dune face, wild camping and campfires, sports training and roaming dogs. We can protect them by staying off the dunes, keeping to the beach for our walks, and following the direction of local signage and watching wildlife from a distance.
Damage to our sand dunes is evident all around the coast according to the Climate Action Regional Offices who promotes the #ProtectOurDunes campaign and World Sand Dune Day, which highlights the importance of conserving these vital coastal habitats around the world and to highlight the importance and fragility of these natural coastal protections and important habitats.
The preservation and strengthening of natural coastal defences, such as sand dune systems, plays an important role in increasing our coastal resilience to the impacts of climate change. Other countries, such as the Netherlands, are protecting and restoring their sand dune systems as a cheaper, and more flexible method – in some cases – than hard coastal protection works.
This initiative along with all previous awareness raising campaigns, is asking the public to help protect the dunes by enjoying the beach responsibly and will include awareness raising measures on social media to convey the importance of our sand dunes to coastal resilience and biodiversity, how they can be easily damaged from recreational activities, along with simple measures to preserve them.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Dr. Kevin Lynch, Coastal Geomorphologist at University of Galway said;
“…where in the past some may have thought sand dunes were just nice places for the plants and animals, there is a growing realisation they can be a big part of our fight against climate change and storm impacts. Coastal dunes are an excellent, flexible coastal protection. By looking after them, we have a win-win situation.”
We invite all local groups to get involved! The erection of the rope fence will take place on Saturday, 29th June 2025 12-2pm on the Beach.
Supporting information, videos and communication toolkits for coastal communities are available on the Dunes.ie website https://dunes.ie/
The campaign will be visible on social media platforms from 29th June and will continue over the summer months.
