Freshfield, Formby, Southport, UK. 18th August, 2015. Visitors to the National Trust dunes and beaches. Sunny start to the day as holidaymakers, tourists, & day-trippers visit the National Trust dunes beach an area of dramatic sand dunes, surrounded by sweeping coastal pinewoods. The area has suffered from a large loss of sand dune habitat from pine invasion, urban development and erosion. There are nature reserves protecting some remaining areas of habitat including those managed by the National Trust and the Wildlife Trust. Credit: Cernan Elias/Alamy Live News
The Sefton Coast is one of the largest and most spectacular unspoilt sand dune systems in the country, stretching 20 miles it supports a huge variety of plants and animals. The pine woodlands of Corsican, Austrian, and Scots Pine were planted to protect the dunes and surrounding area in the 19th & 20th centuries by the landowners of the time Charles Weld Blundell and Jonathan Formby. Natural England has 2 national nature Reserves on the Sefton Coast, Ainsdale and Cabin Hill NNR covers an area of 500+ ha. The reserves falls within the coastal Special Protection Area and are Ramsar areas. Ravenmeols Sandhills LNR & Ainsdale and Birkdale Sandhills LNR are managed by Sefton Council , Coast and Countryside National Trust has the reserve at Freshfield. The habitat ranges from the tidal sand flats, mobile and fixed dunes- ridges and valleys, with wet areas within the dunes or slacks these are low hollows formed by windblown which often fill with fresh water in winter (Formby beach alone has 500 acres of sand dunes) Saltmarsh, and a large area of pine woodland and mixed scrub. On clear, sunny days the mountains of North Wales, far across Liverpool Bay, seem close enough to touch! The Green beach is a incredibly, special place, it has grown from a few scattered patches of Common Saltmarsh-grass (which trapped sand and formed low hummocks) into 4km of new salt-marsh and sand dune habitat. The Green beach consists of 2 new parallel dune ridges between which salt, freshwater marsh and seasonally -flooded freshwater lagoons have developed.
Size: 3600px × 2400px
Location: Freshfield, Formby, Southport, Merseyside, UK.
Photo credit: © Cernan Elias / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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