6 local beauty spots giving nature a helping hand/where nature is thriving

In the Liverpool City Region there are loads of lovely beauty spots where you can surround yourself with nature and embrace the great outdoors.

You’ll find the perfect places, whether you want a sit on a stretch of sand and chill while you watch the sun go down, splash about in rock pools with the kids to explore what’s lurking beneath the water, or just breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the world around you.

And they are all places which are helping nature to thrive!

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has created a new Local Nature Recovery Strategy and detailed map that could help to improve and expand the incredible green spaces that you love the most while giving nature a helping hand.

Don’t forget to take part in the public consultation about the new strategy and have your say by visiting www.lcrnaturerecoverystrategy.co.uk, so we can all continue to enjoy fantastic places like the ones below…

Port Sunlight River Park

A gorgeous green space, park and wetland, it was reclaimed from a former landfill site and offers amazing views across the Mersey, Wirral and North Wales. There are nearly three miles of footpaths to enjoy, and you can watch the ships on the Mersey, go bird watching, enjoy the sculptures and wildflower areas, or have a picnic in the sun. With events all year round, the site’s managed for the benefit of communities and wildlife, as well as to attract visitors.

Find out more here.

Red Rocks, Hoylake

Red Rocks Marsh is a coastal reserve covering 10 acres of sand dunes, reedbeds and marshland and provides a home for a host of wintering birds species as well as the rare natterjack toad (the only breeding colony of natterjack toads in Wirral are found at Red Rocks).

Find out more here.

Crosby Beach

Renowned for its stunning sunsets, Crosby Beach is the picturesque beginning to 22 miles of Sefton Coastline and home to Antony Gormley’s Another Place Iron Men statues.

It’s got great views across the sea to Wirral and the North Wales hills, and is the best place for a windswept, cobweb clearing walk.

The Sefton Coastal Path which goes from Crosby to Southport can be walked or cycled but whichever you choose you can see nature being given a helping hand by places like Marshside RSPB Reserve, one of the country’s top reserves for breeding wading birds; Sands Lake Nature Trail and several top rated reserves with grass of Parnassus, wild orchids, butterflies, sand lizards, natterjack toads and hordes of shorebirds in winter.

Formby Point has four nature reserves – as well as the National Trust’s Red Squirrel Reserve (see below) – and the tidal mudflats of the River Alt are home to yet more shorebirds.

More info here.

Formby Red Squirrel Reserve

A haven for wildlife and people, this never ceases to be a family favourite because you can get out into the beautiful woodlands surrounding Formby and you’re close to the beach where you can build a sandcastle, go for a paddle, or have fun exploring its famous dunes.

Formby is home to the rare native red squirrel and there are tons of walks through crops fields where you can learn how the humble asparagus shaped the town, as well as trails which explore its prehistoric past.

More info here.

Hilbre Islands Local Nature Reserve

One of Wirral’s best-loved beauty spots, you’ll find Hilbre Islands at the mouth of the Dee Estuary, one of the ten most important estuaries in Europe for wildfowl and waders. Hilbre Islands are also important as a stopping-off point for the twice-yearly migration of birds along the west coast of Britain and they’re home to a colony of grey seals (numbers of which are highest in the summer months if you want to be sure of seeing them swimming just offshore).

Find out more here.

Speke Garston Nature Reserve

Between Garston docks and Speke airport and the neighbouring Speke Hall estate, the reserve contains a variety of habitats, including extensive saltmarsh, tidal mudflats, open grassland, coastal cliffs, reedbeds, farmland, and wildflower meadows.

The grasslands and coastal areas are home to a variety of summer visitors and year round residents like grasshopper warblers, whitethroat, stonechat, reed and sedge warblers, skylarks, pipits, blackcaps, chiff-chaff and willow warbler, and thrushes, while in winter snipe, and jack snipe keep safe in the wetter meadow areas. 

Birds of prey are a common sight: buzzards soar over the reserve, and kestrel, sparrowhawk and short eared owls roost and hunt the area. The reserve’s wildflowers help to support a breeding collection of 11 species of butterflies. 

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has created a Local Nature Recovery Strategy and a map of places where nature can be created, enhanced and restored – and who benefits from that? You do. Check it out, let them know what you think and make sure your favourite place is on it.

You’ve got until Sunday, April 6, to have your say – so don’t leave it too late: visit the website here.