A place to think about Culbin's sand life.
This welcome stop on the walk between Wellhill and Buckie Loch nestles in a heathery hollow at junction 9. It’s a good place to sit (on one of the unusual benches) or ‘stand and stare’ at Culbin’s smallest but greatest natural wonders.
As well as birds high in the treetops, visitors can spot many surprises at ground level, where new life takes root in soil built up by needles and bark. Look out for large forest ants as they scuttle around purposefully, sometimes carrying loads twice their own bodyweight.
Other than the trees – and human visitors – every single living or growing thing you’ll find in Culbin has arrived by chance at some time in the past, on the wind or washed in by water.
Shingle ridges
Along the forest paths, occasional bands of pebbles show up, polished by walkers’ feet. These are part of a shingle ridge, a long, straight shelf of pebbles, driven inshore many centuries ago by storm and tide.
The needles and bark shed by the trees here have, over time, created a thin layer of acid soil over both sand and shingle, which provides a seedbed and, increasingly, a source of food.
Learn more about Culbin's shingle ridges.
Cladonia lichens
Rare Culbin cladonia lichens spread along these ridges and the firebreak paths like drifts of grey-green snow. In the past people have used this strange plant (which evolved from a combination of algae, bacteria and fungi) to make dyes and folk remedies. Lichen can withstand both drought and downpour, but they grow slowly, and it’s all too easy to destroy them just by accidentally trampling them. See more about Culbin's lichens.
As well as the lichens, many flowers, mosses, insects, invertebrates, fungi, birds and small mammals have adapted to make this man-made forest their home. So if you visit Culbin, it really pays to stop in your tracks and look down!
See this stop on the Culbin map (PDF 3.5Mb).
Back to 12 places to see at Culbin.
