A half-mile wide strip along the western edge, facing the Atlantic, is still wild sand dunes, tall and rough. The sand is full of shells, a fantastic diversity of little bivalve dishes, washed up from their mud-sand home off the coast. But of particular note are the broad flat otter shells, hand-long pod razor shells and palm-sized ocean quahogs (Arctica islandica). The botany of the spit was once so rich that it was known as the “medicine garden of Europe”. Perhaps the most striking dune plant is the burnet rose; masses of tiny little bushes with delicate crimp-cut leaves and purple-black hips.

Source: The Guardian September 22, 2017 04:30 UTC