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August 19th 2025 A walk along Barrier 4 Beach, Burray
by Merryn Dineley - 09:05 on 26 August 2025
The weather was autumnal with a cool breeze and cloudy skies, as nine of us met for a walk along Barrier Four beach, Burray. We headed out to the totem pole where we immediately found Greater Knapweed, Ladies Bedstraw, a few leaves of Butterburr, Red Clover and Bird’s Foot Trefoil, which have just about finished flowering for the year. There was also Dandelion, which we thought we should record but I’m not sure which type it was. I’ve been told that there are over a hundred varieties of dandelion. We missed the explanations of the experts. We also identified Catsear, Fescue Grass and Ribwort Plantain.
Further down by the Burray cliffs we found Sea Sandwort, Tufted Vetch (no flowers) Marram and Sea Lime Grass. The latter of these grasses is abundant, growing tall in many places and there were plenty of seedlings thriving as it spreads out and colonises the beach. Other plants found space to grow: someone spotted a single plant of lovage and there were Marsh Ragwort dotted about as well as Red Campion, Sea Mayweed and Perennial SeaDock with curly leaves.
As we headed out from the ‘jungle’ of tall Sea Lime Grass we found Orache, a common seashore plant but one that involves a fair bit of headscratching when it comes to identification (according to Tim Dean’s wildflower book). We were, indeed, confused. There were Frosted Orache plants, Spear Leaved and Babington’s but we were not sure about some of them. Hybridisation? I was interested to learn that Orache is an edible plant and has been part of the Scottish diet since prehistoric times.
We headed out into the dunes, walking along the path towards South Ronaldsay. Two islands in one walk! We met Steve Sankey (of Orkney Wildlife) who was counting birds and bees. He told us that 20 little terns have nested on the beach this summer. After a friendly chat, we resumed our botanical adventure finding a few Angelica, Spear Thistles at early stages of growth, Creeping Thistles, Common Catsear and Smooth Hawksbeard, in flower.
There was one mysterious plant with jet black seeds. Some said it was Cow Parsley, gone to seed, however, other people used a plant identification app on their phones which said it was Turnip Root Chervil. Most of us had never heard of this plant and so some help with verification may be necessary! I shall make sure that it is included in the photos.
One of the aims of the walk was to see and appreciate how the beach has ‘grown’ and been colonised by plants over the years. Some people remembered it from the 1960s and 70s, when it was a much smaller beach than it is today. The blockships that children played on in those days are now buried beneath the sand. We walked over the wrecks. It will be interesting to look for future changes. Will the beach just keep growing until it fills the whole bay? It was a very enjoyable walk, with much laughter and some interesting plants to see and identify.
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