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Shifting Sands of Sefton

Martha Kearney explores the shifting sands of the Sefton coastline, between Liverpool and Southport, finding out how the landscape has been shaped and changed over the years.

The Sefton coastline stretches for around twenty miles between Liverpool and Southport. It has one of the largest sand dune systems in the country, but is also one of the fastest-eroding shorelines, shifting back by around four metres ever year. In this programme, Martha Kearney visits Sefton to explore the ways in which this ever-changing landscape has been shaped by both human activity and the elements. She walks along Blitz Beach, where rubble was dumped from buildings destroyed when Bootle and Liverpool were bombed during World War II, and finds out how this has affected erosion over the decades since then. She learns about the treacherous sands of Crosby, where the famous Antony Gormley sculptures on the beach have proved a huge tourist attraction, but where an RNLI lifeguard explains how it is all too easy for unwary visitors to get stuck in the mud and quicksand. A few miles further up the coast at Formby, she finds out how work is going on to restore degraded sand dunes and goes out looking for sand lizards with one of the National Trust rangers. She asks what the future holds for this coastline, with is diverse wildlife habitats and fascinating history.

Producer: Emma Campbell

Release date:

24 minutes

On radio

Thu 10 Apr 2025 15:00

Broadcasts

  • Thu 10 Apr 2025 15:00
  • Sat 12 Apr 2025 06:07

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