Hundreds of Christmas trees have been planted on Lossiemouth’s East Beach to form an unorthodox defence to protect the town’s dunes.
Worries were raised about the East Beach last year after huge swathes of the sand banks were washed away in storms.
Anxious about the prospect of losing their beloved dunes, locals committed to coming up with a plan to protect them.
Today crews from RAF Lossiemouth joined efforts to plant Christmas trees on the beach to form a new natural barrier.
And it is hoped the project could become a template for other north-east communities to follow.
Fears for future of Lossiemouth’s East Beach
Shifting sands on Lossiemouth’s East Beach is nothing new, like all dunes they move with the seasons depending on the year.
However, the changes in recent years have attracted alarm from regular beach walkers.
Where previously walkers crossing over the old East Beach bridge would have to pass through a narrow gap in the dunes to get to the sands, there is now a vast growing chasm.
Lossiemouth Community Council has spearheaded the “soft sea defence” of Christmas trees after seeing them used in Fife and Lancashire.
Chairwoman Carolle Ralph said: “It’s really been quite worrying to watch because a lot of the dunes have just disappeared.
“One of our main worries has been the effect this will have on the Seatown because there is now very little protection there from the weather coming off the sea.
“We’re hoping the trees will keep the sand together and help keep everything here more established and then you can look to strengthen it further with Marram grass.”
Heldon and Laich councillor Neil Cameron added: “In the eight years since I’ve been here, these dunes have almost completely disappeared.
“They’re a great protecting for the River Lossie and they’re feature of the town, if they’re washed away then that feature is lost.”
What will the Christmas trees on Lossiemouth’s beach do?
The Christmas trees were dug into trench one metre deep and one metre wide encircling one of the Lossiemouth dunes.
A crew of about 30 volunteers from RAF Lossiemouth then placed them inside before filling the ditch in with sand.
It is hoped the trees will catch the sand from the dunes when water from sea rushes in during storms and high tides and prevent it from being washed back out to sea.
Eventually the trees should become buried by the sand and appear almost invisible to walkers.
Could Christmas trees be used on other beaches?
Flooding officials will be keeping a close eye on the Lossiemouth Christmas trees this year with drones to examine any changes on the beach.
And Will Burnish, Moray Council’s senior engineer for flooding and coastal, believes the project could be replicated elsewhere across the north-east shore.
He said: “Unfortunately the council doesn’t have the funding now to help with projects like this, but we’ve been able to help discuss it with Marine Scotland and the Crown Estate, which we’re much more experienced in doing.
“With anything you do with nature, there’s never any guarantees it’s going to work. We know a big storm might come along and we could end up with Christmas trees all over the beach.
“But at the same time, we’re trying something here which, if it works, could be used on the West Beach, Roseisle, Kingston and not just in Moray too.
“There will be communities and councils across Scotland looking at what we’re doing here.”
Conversation