TYRELLA BEACH RESTORATION PHASE 2
MAP OF AREAS AFFECTED BY PHASE 2.
Phase 2 included the removal of the old visitors centre that had been the epicentre of erosion on the beach with uncontrolled and undirected footfall accellerating dune loss in that area.
To ensure that during the demolition process there would not be a huge ‘blow-out’ or indunation of the rear of the beach by a high tide, during phase 1 we used zigzag chestnut palings protected by a sheep fence to grow giant sanddunes quickly in front of the visitors centre leaving only enough space for an excavator to get in and out.
ECOLOGISTS’ REPORT GIVES A GOOD SUMMARY OF THIS PROJECT.
Getting permissions for phase 2 got bogged down in conflicting directions from Council and Department officials. This was resolved by Lecale Conservation commissioning an ecologists report which gives a good overview of the success of phase 1 and planning for phase 2. See report here. This report created a concensus over what was to be done with on-site meetings led by the ecologist team Cecila Spooner and Dave Thompson.
FENCING
Lecale Conservation was awarded a £10,000 grant by the Department of Environment for fencing to repair 250 meters of dunes that had been destroyed by excessive and uncontrolled footfall near the old visitors centre as well as 3500 sand dune grasses plugs planted.
Fencing was uncomplicated in this phase, using a simple rope threaded though a line of drilled posts over about 250 meters. 8ft tall and 4ft deep. The contractor Natural Sea Defences moved the line of fencing closer to the high tide mark. The beach had risen 1 meter since phase 1 with the regrowth of the dunes. We were unable to completely remediate the fencing error in phase 1 (see last bit of post on phase 1 for details here)
PLANTINGS
Volunteers from Lecale Conservation and True Harvest Seeds were joined by Council Staff
and members of a local residents association for the planting process that lasted about 5 hours. About 3500 plugs were planted with the emphasis on sand couch grass at the front edge with lyme grass making the bulk of the area aimed at growing new dunes. We planted some marram to the rear to help recover the blowout and area where the old visitors centre had been.
The sand couch will initiate the dunes, the lyme rapidly take it to about 1 meter tall and the marram will gradually grow from the back forwards towards the sea as the dunes get higher. At some point the process of protecting the front edge will need to start again. It will need to be protected from footfall along the front edge with a new rope line to allow the dunes to naturally grow. Or Tyrella will end up with an unstable marram-only dune system in 5 to 10 years. The fencing from 2024 has already vanished under the dunes.
VIDEO TAKEN AUGUST 2025 FOR COMPARASION NEXT YEAR AROUND AUGUST 2026
See video here https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1325881335622125
BIG UPTICK IN WILDLIFE IN DUNES
As we have seen on other beaches, insects, birds and lizards are returning to the dunes now that large sections are free from human footfall.
