Embryonic shifting dunes
Embryonic shifting dunes of the sandy depositing shores of the Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic. Colonized only by a few species, mostly Elymus farctus (=Agropyron junceum), embryonic dunes reach a height of up to c. 1 m before they grade into marram (white) dunes (biogenic dune formation).
Notes on habitat mapping
The essential criterion for the delimitation of this habitat type is the presence of the relevant plant species and clearly raised sand surfaces of normally between a few centimetres and >30 cm above the surrounding beach; initial stages with drift line species (Cakiletea maritimae) with no obvious dune formation are to be considered under the habitat type 1210 Larger beach sections free of vegetation are to be excluded. This habitat type is differentiated from the white dunes with marram grass (2120) by its lack of Ammophila arenaria.