To mark World Wetlands Day, Sefton Council’s coast and countryside principal officer Rachel Northover will be leading a walk into the dunes at Ainsdale on February 2 at 10.30am to look at the dune slack habitat and examine newly-created Natterjack pools in the frontal dunes.
Wetlands are vital to the dune system on the Sefton coast in the form of slacks.
Slacks are damp hollows that should flood in winter, and form breeding ponds for rare species like the Natterjack Toad in the spring, before evaporating to create excellent habitat for the incredible dune wild flowers that can be found on the Sefton coast in the summer months.
Rachel will be explaining about the wildlife and plants that rely on the slacks, how they form and how these areas are managed.
Later in the year, Rachel will also be offering visitors the chance to join her again on Tuesday, June 21 for another wetlands walk, when she will be assessing how our Natterjacks, other amphibians, insects and wild flowers have benefitted from the creation of these new pools.
The new pools were created last year and were funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the walks are a legacy of this project.
The free walk’s duration will be about two hours, and will set off from Ainsdale Discovery Centre.
Stout walking shoes/boots and weather appropriate clothing will be necessary.
Booking is essential for these events.
For more details, please call Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership on 0151 934 2964 or email landscape.partnership@sefton.gov.uk
February 2 marks the intergovernmental adoption of the Convention on Wetlands in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971.
The Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international co-operation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
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