About 20 trees and shrubs have slipped down the beach's beleaguered dunes over the past week, forming a leafy grove at the high water mark.
The foliage has come down along a 200m stretch between the disappearing poles and Middle Beach, along with large chunks of topsoil from the dune's ridge above.
For daily beach walkers Megan and Cecilia Mickelsen, the foliage was a new and unwelcome attraction.
Cecilia said the trees had fallen within the last week, following a period of sand replenishment at the beach.
''We thought it was looking more hopeful with all the sand coming back, but ... you just wonder how long we're going to have the beach.''
The Dunedin City Council is amassing a sand reservoir at Middle Beach with sand dredged from Otago Harbour.
Before next winter, the council will repair damaged sand sausages, and add more to the dunes' base to protect them from further erosion.
Once the sand sausages were installed, the council would begin work on the long-term measures needed to stop erosion, including a buried backstop wall.
