SANDS OF TIME
Remember how it feels to climb the slopes of a sand dune, with sand pouring backwards as you dislodge the finely balanced grains? You reach the top with a degree of achievement and feel the wind whisking inland from the sea. The sky arcs overhead, while at your feet lie mounds of sand, spiked with tufts of coarse grass and hostile blades that will cut, if grabbed onto for support. But before you settle down for a snooze or head off for a swim, look again at your environment because dunes are magical in their contrariness. On one level they appear to be empty expanses, but on another they are teeming with life. These robust towers of sand are fragile ecosystems that continually move and evolve.
From the shores of Braunton Burrows in North Devon, to Merthyr Mawr in South Wales to Holkham in North Norfolk, sand dunes are amazing mountains of past lives condensed into fragile clouds
