KATE MARTIN: Welcome to the National Trust Podcast.

I'm Kate Martin area ranger at Formby on the beautiful Sefton

Coast and a full on nature lover.

I'll be taking you on some amazing walks delving into the

stories and characters that make each place so special.

We'll be traveling all around the country from hilltop to

seaside. We'll tread sandy paths and the polished wooden floors

of country homes.

Delight in birdsong, sublime views and exceptionally good

cream teas.

So come and join me on this journey and immerse yourself in

the wonders of the National Trust.

The sound of the Irish Sea lapping, the incredible shape

shifting dunes of the Sefton Coast near Liverpool. This week

we're on my home turf at Formby where the National Trust manage

around 1000 acres of land.

I've been a ranger here for eight years now, but this

stunning sea view never fails to take my breath away.

And here we are standing on this glorious golden sandy beach

which is just sloping very gently into the Irish Sea, which

today is a little bit rough. So there's nice big waves just

crashing in.

To the south of me I can see Wales and the Wirral Peninsula

and then to the North, I can see the tower at Blackpool and the

big one and then up to the western lakes and the fells

there.

In the summer months, hoards of city dwellers flock to Formby

leaving behind the hubbub of nearby towns and cities like

Liverpool and Manchester, Warrington and Preston in search

of wilderness and a little bit of a breath of fresh air.

But today, the place is quite subdued. There's only a handful

of people enjoying gentle walks through the dunes and those

beautiful windswept pine trees.

But no matter the time of year for me really does have

something for everyone.

If you're a wildlife fan, This is the perfect place to catch a

glimpse of endangered species like Red Squirrels or my

personal favourite, the beautiful Natterjack Toad. But

if history is more your bag, this coastline holds evidence of

our ancient ancestors as well as relics of our more recent past.

Today I'll be guiding you through sandy dunes, woodlands

and grasslands and introducing you to some of my colleagues who

will help tell the story of this really special place. We'll

start inland in the sweeping Formby pinewoods.

The walk we're on now on the path. One is actually all part

of the Red Squirrel walk, which is one of the walks available on

the Formby website.

For those who fancy a shorter walk in Formby this route is

perfect. It's just under two miles. So ideal for those with

small children. One of the reasons why the woodlands here

at Formby are particularly popular with people, not just

locally, but people come from hundreds of miles to do this

walk. And it's because of our Red Squirrels.

Oh, just through the woods there I can just see a little red

squirrel. It's obviously an adult. It's got its full ear

tufts going. This is quite a dark red one.

They're really active trying to fatten themselves up for the

winter months. And this one here is just running around, by the

look of it- It looks like it's probably searching for something

it's buried a while ago and probably forgotten where it is.

These woods may look natural but they're certainly not. And

actually somebody who knows an awful lot about this area is

Doctor Phil Smith, a local ecologist and a real expert on

the Sefton Coast.

DR PHIL SMITH: The landscape here a couple of 100 years ago

was absolutely totally different. The dunes were very

wild, very open and sandy.

And we have accounts for this area from 200 years ago by a

chap called Richard Ayton. He describes the Formby the area

in, in great detail over several pages and it's an absolute

revelation to to see what it was like only 200 years ago.

He was in Formby overnight and then he says in the morning, I

returned to the shore over a waist of sand hills on a scale

of such grandeur and covering such an extent of ground that,

familiarized as I was with sand, the effect was somewhat novel to

me!

They extended for at least a mile in depth and were thrown

into very exciting groups exactly resembling a range of

mountains with all their rigids, peaks and precipices.

Many of them were fully 60ft in height, rising precipitously on

all sides. They were all very thinly sprinkled with the sea

bent and exhibited a scene of frightful and irredeemable

barrenness that together with the wild confusion with which

they were grouped and heaped together, had something in it

almost amounting to the sublime.

But of course, things were were were to change partly as a

result of planting trees and the old the memorial estates, there

were two of them that Formby and the Weld Blundell owned most of

the coast.

One of the things that they were particularly keen to do was to

make a make money out of the dunes because they were viewed

at that time as quote " unprofitable waste."

And so in the 1880s, one of the landowners went down to Southern

France and he saw all the huge Conifer plantations on the, on

the dunes there and thought this could be a way of making money,

but that had a really dramatic effect on the coast as we see

today.

As a coastal Ecologist, I I prefer the open dunes which are

far richer in species than the- than the woodlands.

KATE MARTIN: I'm coming to the end of the red squirrel walk.

And before I set off on the next leg of my journey around Formby,

I'm passing over to my colleague who's going to guide you to

something rather magical.

JAMIE LUND: My name is Jamie Lund and I'm the archaeologist

for the National Trust in the North region. If the tide is

being friendly to us, we should see exposures of prehistoric

footprints which might be somewhere in the region of 7000

to 4000 years old.

It's very simple walk to pick up the trail of. You simply park in

the National Trust car park and follow the directional signage

up over the small bank of dunes down again onto the foreshore

and then look left and right and start looking for footprints.

The sweet spot is about 70 to 80m from the toe of the dunes on

the beach. We've got this wonderful golden sand here at

Formby, but sand isn't what we're looking for. We're looking

for an underlying strata of dark brown muddy beds.

Hello there. I can guess what you're doing. Have you had any

luck? [Cross-talk] I thought you might have been looking for

prehistoric foot prints?

GENERIC: Yeah, we were actually and I wasn't sure where they

are?

JAMIE LUND: They're definitely on here- [Cross-talk]

GENERIC: Horse shoe shaped ones up there [Cross-talk]

JAMIE LUND: Horses are a pain you're trying to spot the

prehistoric footprints [ Cross-talk]

GENERIC: Somewhere around here? I think we're all day.

JAMIE LUND: Good luck!

GENERIC: Thank you.

JAMIE LUND: See you!

Oh, then what have we got here? This looks quite promising.

This is our first good plausible footprint I would say.

It's a red deer print.

The landscape would have looked very different to what it does

now, at a time when the deer and the other animals and people

that have left their footprints at Formby would have been

walking along this area.

And it would have been this wonderful, muddy lagoon type

environment that would have been very attractive for animals

wanting to perhaps wallow or find pools of fresh water to

drink.

And of course, where you've got herds of herbivores, you've got

predators. And of course, at the top of that apex of hunters are

people themselves.

Prehistoric hunter gatherers, on a single day, you could have

gone inshore fishing. You could have collected all sorts of

edible seaweeds and other greens that are growing in the muds and

along the sand dune.

We're very lucky that these prehistoric footprints have

survived here at Formby. Once they'd actually been formed by a

foot going into this soft layer of wet mud, It was obviously

hardened by the sun.

So straight away that tells us that the person must have been

walking here in late spring or summer and there was sufficient

strength in the sun to bake that mud and create a hard crust that

didn't just simply smooth down and ebb way.

It was then covered over by just a light dusting of sand and had

the effect of, of a sheet of grease proof paper. It stopped

all of these different layers of sediment sticking together into

one homogenous layer.

So that today when the tide comes and starts to erode a

layer, it peels off very neatly without trying to pull off the

upper surface of the layer below.

Those people with a specialist eye can tell an awful lot about

the prehistoric footprints that we can find here just looking at

the way that the foot has landed on the ground and the way that

the weight has been distributed across the foot, you can tell

whether people are walking normally, whether they're

limping.

We can spot the difference between men and women and we can

even spot, women who are probably pregnant by the way

that they tend to lean back onto their heels.

So I often look at the footprints that I see at Formby

and wonder, well, are they hunting and gathering or are

they playing? Are they simply going for a walk?

And I think in being able to see these footprints and see the

traces left by people 6000 years ago, it really encourages you to

open your mind to exactly what their lived experiences might

have been like.

There, there was a huge concentration of a couple of

hundred footprints in one area. And after a few minutes of

looking, we could see that people had approached the

central point from all points of the compass as five or six

people coming from different angles.

And they'd come together in a huge scrum and people's feet

were spinning around, they were rotating, they were digging

their toes in as if they were trying to get pressure.

And I was trying to think what, what on earth does this mean?

What was happening here? And I thought about, you know, are

they trying to corner something?

Are they catching something or is this a game? You know, are

they falling around? Are they wrestling? They're pushing each

over in the mud and having a- you know, a whale of a time? And

of course, you'll never know. But I think each of those

scenarios is, is very interesting.

KATE MARTIN: That was Jamie Lund looking at the amazing ancient

footprints on Formby's Beach and for anyone visiting Formby, it's

definitely well worth a trip to see these footprints, It really

is magical.

For me, It's the idea of actually standing on the very

same mud that these people actually walked in. That real

connection to the people that once lived here.

I wonder what they would have made of today's walkers. And to

be honest, they probably would have thought we were mad just

walking around for fun and not for anything in particular!

We heard from Jamie about how ancient people reaped food from

this land. But let's fast forward a few thousand years.

And the inhabitants of Formby had acquired a taste for

something a little bit more refined.

Asparagus!

Now I'm headed on another short walk that's actually named after

this fine food which was once grown in abundance here at

Formby.

Today, Asparagus production has declined. There is only one form

the Asparagus grower left, but you can still see the flat sandy

fields where the crop once thrived and grew here.

There are two asparagus walks around Formby, a shorter trail,

It's about a mile and three quarters which is suitable for

people of all abilities.

But the walk I'm doing today is a little bit more challenging.

It's just under three miles and joining me on this stroll is

John Dempsey who is the Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership

scheme project officer.

Hi, John.

JOHN DEMPSEY: Hi Kate, how are you doing?

KATE MARTIN: I'm alright!

JOHN DEMPSEY: It's a lovely morning.

KATE MARTIN: It's lovely!

The area in front of us is very, very flat and this area is

famous for its asparagus, isn't it, John?

JOHN DEMPSEY: It is. I mean, this is an eye onto onto form's

history if you like.

The Formby asparagus, of course, is world famous.

KATE MARTIN: I don't think a lot of people who visit for me

realize just how much asparagus changed this landscape and how

much the cultivation left its footprint here.

JOHN DEMPSEY: It's quite strange that these open areas that are

the result of asparagus have actually ended up being almost a

good refuge for some of the dune species that might struggle

otherwise.

But I don't think the guys who are planting the asparagus

thought of it that way. As humans, sometimes we, we're

quite unaware of the effects our footprints have on the

landscape.

But it's interesting nonetheless.

It's lovely just to look on some of the fields as well now at

this time of year to see how the local wildlife moves perhaps

from out of the dunes into these flat areas. You can see a few

rabbits legging around over there.

Rabbits, of course, are vital for our dune system where we're

heading now. Because they're the natural grazers on this

coastline.

These are the guys we rely upon to keep the vegetation down,

open sand means all the wonderful species we hopefully

get in the the dunes can survive there.

We have some wonderful species on this coast?

Things like the Dark Green Fritillary, lovely big orange

butterfly that we enjoy on the wind here in summer.

It's something that loves plants like Heath Dog Violet, which is

a dune specialist. The caterpillars feed on that

earlier on in the year and of course, a good year for the

Heath Dog Violet means a good year for the butterflies.

We're moving now into all the lovely Marram Grass, which is

the thing that binds all the dunes together on the Sefton

Coast.

People forget as well. Sometimes I think that our wonderful

little Natterjack Toads later in the summer, they'll move out

into the dunes and onto the tide line as well to feed. So, an

open sandy system like this is absolutely vital.

KATE MARTIN: Natterjacks, they're slightly bigger than the

common toad. But the real sort of telling sign of them, they

have a yellow stripe that goes down the back when they're

adults, they've got the most beautiful amber eyes that are

sort of flecked with a deeper brown.

They crawl, they're not hoppers, like sort of common frogs. They

are nocturnal and it's the males that come out first and then

they will start calling.

A sort of deep ratchet like call, that the males make, to

call to the females and you can hear them from miles away,

certainly a mile away. You can hear them calling.

We've just walked out over the dune system and to this open

expanse of gold and sandy beach.

JOHN DEMPSEY: An incredible place to watch the ships coming

and going from all over the world. And of course, you know,

we've got such a tremendous maritime heritage here, but it's

full of wildlife as well a day like today, lovely bit of a chop

on the sea. So it's a bit hard to spot, but there'll be Grey

Seals out there.

There'll be thousands of Common Scoters, these lovely duck that

come down and spend the winter with us after having bred up in

the far North. Just a magnificent place.

There's divers out there, greebes, all sorts of wonderful

things and of course, jellyfish, we're getting more and more

jellyfish now.

Which means potentially we might even have turtles off this coast

at certain times of the year. In fact, remember Kate, that great

big storm we had in 2013, We had a wonderful Kemp's Ridleys

Turtle that was blown right the way across the Atlantic from the

Caribbean.

And the poor little fella came out on the beach just down the

coast from us here. A bit shocked, a bit surprised to find

herself not in the Caribbean, but that's how life goes

sometimes!

Which just shows you a sea like the Irish Sea an incredible

place.

And it's a doorstep to the world. I love looking out here

even seeing the modern ships and thinking, oh, where are you

going? Where are you come from? Absolutely wonderful.

KATE MARTIN: And talking about the shipping, there's also a lot

of ships that maybe weren't quite as successful on their

voyages. And there's a good few of them that you can see off the

coast here.

JOHN DEMPSEY: There are, Yeah.

I love the wrecks on the Sefton Coast. My obsession with them is

well known locally. We lead walks out throughout the year,

but you have to go with a guide really because like any low tide

area where we have such a big tidal range here-

There's a lot of soft mud, a lot of dangerous channels-

You need to know where you're going and conditions can can

change very quickly.

But if ever you get the chance come along because they, they're

wonderful things to see.

But there are some crackers. I mean, so many nice stories.

My favourite is our own whiskey galore story!

The story of the Pegu, which is on the beach just down from us

at the moment, about a mile or so down.

The Pegu was a ship heading out to Rangoon from Liverpool in

1939 and it ran aground for whatever reason. But the most

interesting thing about the, the Pegu was a cargo which of course

was, crate upon crate of whiskey.

When she ran aground, the customs men decided because

she's a long way out.

They decided that the wreck was safe where it was for, a little

while. And they wouldn't need to secure it on the night.

But the good people of Formby knew better and we're out there

like a shot, with their carts with wheelbarrows, which

whatever they could use and, and help themselves to the booty.

So what they decided to do a lot of these guys was, they hid the

whiskey down rabbit holes and buried it in the sand and for,

for years afterwards. So the story goes, the guys would pop

down again of an evening just to help themselves.

No more whiskey now, I'm afraid! That's long gone!

KATE MARTIN: We've had the beach pretty much to ourselves this

morning. We've had a few people wandering around in the

distance. But this area is really popular for walkers for

all different reasons. Families coming out for nice walks and

local people coming to walk their dogs.

Actually, there's a lady just in front of us here with a gorgeous

little dog.

Her name's not Lula is it?

GENERIC: No Lola!

KATE MARTIN: Lola, Lola. Yeah, I think I met your husband in when

I was clearing the boardwalk the other day down Lifeboat Road.

GENERIC: He's busy today. So I'm taking her, so I've walked down

the other way normally and come back through the dunes, but make

it a little bit easier today. And with the tide in it's such a

gorgeous place and peaceful and just, just lovely. Really?

KATE MARTIN: Yeah, I say, certainly meeting Lola the other

day. I know she certainly likes to, get into the sea and have a

ball thrown for her on this beach.

GENERIC: Well, she's like a child. She's just running down

the boardwalk, sort of full of excitement, ready for the ball

to be thrown all the time. And you can walk along the beach and

you hardly see a soul and it's just a beautiful place. So we

love it up here.

KATE MARTIN: We've come to the end of this walk here this

afternoon and this is my last podcast and I'm really sad

because I have really, really enjoyed it.

I've been to some beautiful places and the wonderful thing

about North Wales and the Peak District and here at Formby,

there are so many places you can walk.

It's just about getting out there, strapping your boots on

and seeing where the nature takes you.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the National Trust

Podcast.

For more information about Formby and to download maps and

information on today's walks, you can visit our website at

nationaltrust.org.uk/formby.

The next three episodes of this podcast will be taking you into

the world of books and literature through some of the

National Trust's amazing spaces.

I'll be handing you over to my esteemed colleague, James

Grasby, the National Trust curator for the Midlands.

In the next episode, he'll be your trusty guide through the

tranquil arts and crafts home of the playwright, politician and

philosopher George Bernard Shaw, one of the most quoted men in

the world.

That episode will be available in a couple of weeks, but there

will be a mini episode available next week where I'll be learning

about what's on the menu for Red Squirrels here at Formby.

Until the next season of the National Trust Podcast, from me,

Kate Martin. Goodbye.