Dumbarnie Links Reserve is a small remnant of calcareous dune grassland in the centre of Largo Bay on the south coast of Fife.

This is a rich wildlife habitat that used to be much more extensive along the eastern seaboard of Scotland.

The site was purchased in 1998 by the Scottish Wildlife Trust with help from Fife Council, and is open to the public at all times.

Access to the Reserve

The reserve can be reached on foot from Lower Largo along the beach or via the Fife Coastal Path (1 mile); or from Shell Bay in the east along the beach (1½ miles).

A footpath passes through the reserve behind the main dune.

Dunes are very vulnerable to erosion; horse riders should use the beach, dogs should be kept on the lead, and care should be taken not to start fires.

PRINT OUT a copy of this Web page and take it with you when you visit the reserve.

SUPPORT
YOUR
LOCAL
WILDLIFE

Dumbarnie Links

Largo Bay

NO 441 022
O.S. Sheet 59

Wildlife

The reserve shows a typical range of duneland habitats:

The foredune just above the tideline, being colonised by sea couch-grass, sea rocket and oraches. These can tolerate the constantly moving sand and regrow each summer after being covered by sand during winter storms.

The main dune ridge of unstable sand rising steeply from the beach and dominated by marram grass and the broader leaved lyme grass.

A hummocky hinterland of more stable grassland covering most of the reserve, with a wealth of flowers throughout the summer.

Hollows with short, rabbit-grazed turf and moss, which become flooded in winter to form 'winter lochs' as the underground water-table rises.

The grassland is rich in lime because of the fragments of seashells in the sand. This enables the growth of many plants that need these special conditions. Cowslips (and locally primroses) are abundant in spring, followed in summer by purple milk-vetch, meadow crane's-bill, common and greater knapweed, viper's bugloss and many more.

Skylarks and meadow pipits nest, while buzzards and kestrels are frequently seen as they hunt for rabbits and voles. The adjacent shore has a mosaic of rock, sand, mud and pools, with a rich diversity of seaweeds and animal life. This provides good feeding for herons and for waders such as curlew, redshank, turnstone and oystercatcher. Offshore, terns and gannets can be watched in summer and a good variety of northern wildfowl in winter, including long-tailed duck, red-throated diver and all three species of scoter. Eiders are present all year and used to nest on the links.

Butterflies, including common blue, small copper and meadow brown, and a great variety of land snails represent just a tiny fraction of the vast diversity of insects and other invertebrate animals characteristic of dune grassland

Historical Perspective

These links were formerly part of the glebe of Newburn Parish (now combined with Largo) and would probably have been lightly grazed by cattle or sheep.

The railway line, which forms the northern boundary, operated from 1857 to 1965.

A line of re-aligned anti-tank blocks, dating from the Second World War, now separates the reserve from the grazed land to the east. Another legacy of the war is the pair of concrete pill-boxes.

Management

The variety of plants depends upon grazing, but at present the rabbits are sufficiently numerous that additional grazing by domestic stock is not necessary.