The buried trees
A really strange phenomenon has affected the growth of some of the trees here on the flanks of this dune system.
When the trees were young, the sand constantly shifted around the trunks of the seedlings, sometimes almost entirely smothering them as they grew. Now, the ground level from the time they were planted lies several metres below the surface of the dune, and some have almost half of their total height underground.
As the sand moved, the trees stayed where they were. If we were now to dig down around these trees, we would find that the motion of the sand has caused the trunks to taper downwards towards the root, rather like the tip of a pencil.
Lady Culbin Dunes
Lady Culbin is the largest single sand-dune system in Culbin, now entirely planted with trees (the highest easily-accessible dune is Hill 99). The dunes are regularly-shaped and merge into each other, created largely by winds blowing from the east, with their avalanche face to the west.
Legend has it that Rob the Smith may live inside the dune system and will shoe your horse for you if you leave it here overnight!
Read more on myths and legends at Culbin.
Visitors will find a seat located in a thinned area of mature trees about 1.5 km from the highest dunes within the Lady Culbin system. If pausing here, you'll see that many of Lady Culbin’s trees have reached maturity, and the forest floor is attractively carpeted with moss.
Butte Dunes
East of Lady Culbin and nearer the coastline, sharp-eyed visitors can spot a third dune phenomenon. Butte dunes are smaller single dunes, surviving remnants of a vegetated layer which has eroded away. The overall impact is of an apple-core shape: the vegetation intact, with the thin turf holding the top together but the sides below just eroding sand.
Butte dunes would naturally continue to erode until collapse: here, the surrounding forest will artificially protect them.
Read more about Culbin’s dune landscape.
See the Culbin map (PDF 3.5Mb).
Back to 12 places to see at Culbin.
