Formby

The pines were planted from the nineteenth century to stabilise shifting dunes that were burying farmland, and the resulting woodland became one of the few English strongholds for red squirrels, isolated from greys; a squirrelpox outbreak in 2008 cut the population by around eighty per cent and it has recovered slowly since. The dunes hold natterjack toads, Britain's rarest amphibian, which breed in shallow dune pools and call loudly on spring nights. On the foreshore, layers of silt laid down around five thousand years ago are periodically exposed by erosion, carrying human footprints along with prints of aurochs, red deer and cranes, one of the largest such assemblages in Europe; they wash away within weeks of being uncovered. Asparagus was farmed on the dunes into the twentieth century.

What you actually see

• The red squirrels - one of England's few isolated populations, in the pines.
• The prehistoric footprints - human and animal prints exposed in foreshore silt.
• The natterjack toads - Britain's rarest amphibian, calling in spring.
• The planted dunes - pinewood established to stop the sand burying farmland.

When to go

April to October for the dunes and beach; spring evenings for natterjacks. Red squirrels are most visible in autumn and winter when they are active and the canopy is thin. Footprint exposures are unpredictable and short-lived.

Honest expectations

Erosion has taken large sections of dune and closed paths and car parks at times, so the layout changes between visits. Squirrels are wild and not guaranteed. Parking is charged and fills on summer weekends. The footprints require luck and often are not visible at all.

Nearby

Crosby Beach lies south; Southport is north along the coast.