Countryfile visits the St Annes sand dunes

Work to restore the sand dune habitat on Lancashire's Fylde Coast will be featured on BBC’s Countryfile on Sunday evening, April 10.

Presenter Tom Heap speaks to Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s Dunes Project Officer Amy Pennington and volunteers as they plant marram grass on the dunes at St Annes.

The piece will be part of a wider part of the show about how the North West is dealing with coastal erosion.

The Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Blackpool Council and Fylde Borough Council have been undertaking works to implement the Sand Dune Management Plan over the last nine years. The partnership recently received £999,000 from the Environment Agency to continue the work for a further five years.

Over the last 150 years much of the sand dunes has been lost and today 80 hectares remains, but more than 100 metres has been created by the partnership work. The dunes protect homes in the area and a local nature reserve.

The dunes are home to several internationally significant plants, rare invertebrates, and priority species birds. Sand lizards (the UK’s rarest lizard) have been successfully reintroduced since 2018 now habitat conditions are deemed favourable.

Cllr Jane Hugo, Blackpool’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change, met Tom Heap and volunteers on the dunes. She said: 'We have a strong track record of delivering coastal protection schemes and it is great to see that work continuing along the Fylde Coast.'

Lancashire Wildlife Trust Conservation Officer Kim Wisdom said: 'Over the past nine years there has been significant improvement to the structure of the dunes, which protect wildlife and the homes of people living nearby. Only last year, we saw the completion of a joint project to return sand lizards to the dunes.'

Countryfile is on BBC One at 5.50pm on Sunday April 10 2022.