Formby Sand Dunes are made of sand. You walk over the sand dunes to get onto Formby beach.

But where does each grain of sand come from ?

In this podcast Dr Phil Smith tells all, in ways we can all understand .

Sand is washed in from deposits in the Irish Sea. After it arrives on Formby beach, some is blown up to form dunes and some is washed north or south by long-shore drift.

Before the Second World War in the 1930s until the mid 1970s an industry began in Formby called Sand Winning - lorry loads of sand taken from the dunes and sold for industry - glass making.

During the Second World War Formby people made bags and filled them with sand - sand bags .

Dr Phil Smith talks about how

Sand comes from in from the sea. Every grain of sand on the Sefton Coast arrives on the beach at Formby Point and is moved / blown to Ainsdale and Hightown by a process know as Long Shore Drift

Did you know how old Formby’s Sand Dunes are? Dr Phill Smith talks about the age of Formby’s Dunes. Discovered from research, we know the sand dunes in 2022 are 400 years old.

In this podcast we hear about how Formby’s Sand Lizards are rare and protected by law. We have them on the Formby sand-dunes. In the breeding season, males are brilliant green. They probably arrived here thousands of years ago.

Snakes last seen in the area in the 1700s. None now apart from escaped pets.

Common Lizards are smaller and more often seen than Sand Lizards.

We also have two kinds of newts. These are amphibians that breed in water but spend most of their time on land, including in gardens.

Would you like to make a record of what’s in your garden?

You could press leaves and look them up. You could take photos . Put them all in a book, look them up and label them

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