Sandilands FM 1
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Carl: It's got to work. What if it doesn't work? The easiest option and cheapest option would've just been to abandon it and allow it to do what it wants to do. And it would've gradually just scrubbed up. But it would only have been important for two brief periods of the time during migration or small numbers of breeding birds that are already breeding birds in in this country.

And worse than that, nobody would see [00:01:00] them.

Rosie: Today we're answering an age old question, how do you turn a golf course into a thriving wetland? In a world where droughts are becoming ever more frequent, is it as simple as adding water? I'm Ranger Rosie Holdsworth, and in this episode, Lincolnshire Local and Ranger in one of our oldest wetlands. Ajay Tegala is tracking Sandlands over its first year to find out.

Welcome to Wild Tales: Golf Course, to Nature Reserve.

Ajay: I grew up in Lincolnshire, so its flat landscape always feels like home. Hundreds of years ago, the peat rich soils were locked underneath a layer of water, but to provide food for the growing population, the land was drained, and the landscape of England was changed forever. [00:02:00] Despite their greenness, the East Anglian fens are not a patch on the wild watery wilderness they once were, with less space for birds, invertebrates, and people. A hundred miles away on the edge of what would've been the wild fens, is a narrow piece of land tucked behind a sea wall covered in dunes and scrub stretching along the coast. It was a salt marsh then for the last 125 years, a golf course.

But now a massive 7 million pound project is underway to transform its manicured lawns into a thriving space for nature, and for people.

Can Sandilands be a vision for a better and slightly wetter future?

Kirsty: I've lived in Lincolnshire for most of my life. We are really lucky that we live in a village where we have access to a built to walk [00:03:00] alongside agricultural fields on a daily basis with our dog. But actually being really close to nature is really difficult to find. So when we actually can get into nature, it's a real joy to be able to see skylarks and birds that my children have never been able to see before. It means quite a lot to us.

Ajay: Kirsty James is the general manager for Sandilands and one of the first people to get stuck in on site.

Just a few weeks before we arrived, the diggers broke ground to begin the transformation to a wetland. It's a huge moment for the team. The planning, the dreaming and the moments when it nearly all fell through have culminated in the start of the earth turning over.

Kirsty: We are currently walking from the north side and we're walking towards one of the only existing sand dunes on the site.

It used to be teeing point, so where golfers used to tee off over Boy Griff Basin. And when we get to the top of this sand [00:04:00] dune, you'll have amazing views across to the sea, across to the Lincolnshire Wolds that we can see in the distance, and you'll be able to see all the way to chapel St. Leonard. So you'll get a really good overview of the entire site.

Ajay: As we walk, Kirsty tells us about the community that surrounds Sandilands and the huge part they've played already. Undertaking work on this scale requires everyone to be invested, the community that has shown patience and love for the project and for the nature that could one day thrive here. It

Kirsty: is been incredible, really just understanding what it is that people want.

I think that's one of the things that I've learned the most about actually how difficult it is for so many people to access nature. There's a local, uh, resident that lives close to us. And anything that I do, I always think about him. So he, he's a wheelchair user and I see him regularly going up and down the sea wall, and I always think if I was going to do something or I'm looking at paths or path structures, [00:05:00] how would he use it?

So it was really interesting in just understanding how all of these jigsaw pieces sort of come together so that we all can live and flourish and thrive as a natural habitat.

Ajay: The plans for Sandilands are ambitious. Creating not just a place for nature, but somewhere for people to access is no small task.

It has taken years of hard work. When Kirsty first came on site, the long stretch of manicured grass was just beginning to grow its first wild flowers, and the wetlands felt so far out of reach. But now finally it's starting to feel possible.

Kirsty: I remember sitting up at the, um, visitor area outside the cabin and feeling quite emotional, that actually we've got there, we've done it.

It's been such a, an amazing journey and a journey doesn't come without peaks and troughs. But yeah, we've, we've come through it and it's, it's [00:06:00] gonna be a fantastic thing. For so many more people than what I think we give it credit for. I can't wait to see it completed. Yeah.

Ajay: We approach a sand dune standing out amongst the otherwise flat landscape.

Kirsty takes us up the dune, the sea unfurls before us, and we get the first glimpse of what will be the wetland diggers crawl around the site, and the bare earth brims with potential.

Kirsty: This is my favorite space, I think stood on this sand dune... it makes you feel like you are a really small part of nature, and actually where we're stood is going to be turned into a space where people can sit.

So there's going to be some circular seating here, so you'll get 360 degrees views.

Ajay: Seating may seem like something so simple. But a place to enjoy nature can transform someone's [00:07:00] experience making it possible for them to access and immerse themselves in it. While it's taken a huge team to take this project to where it is now, there is one man who arguably is responsible for the vision of the wetland.

Kirsty: Working with Carl has been amazing. So he's lived, breathed, and you know, this project and the partnership for over 20 years. So this is, you know, this is his legacy really. When we, you know, it was just a few of us, a really small group of people that were sort of starting to think about the vision and what this would look like.

Got his crayons out and just drew it on a map and that was the start of the, the. The vision for the wetlands, it was just amazing and we've actually, we've used that all the way through.

Carl: My name's Carl Hawke. I'm the nature Conservation Advisor and I'm really excited that we are now well underway and things are really beginning to take off here.

Humans seem to be drawn towards water, don't they? Whether it's a stroll by a river or living on a river [00:08:00] boat, and they seem to have a particular wildlife that associates with them. That is just completely different to dry land, you know, terrestrial wildlife communities and that diversity that you get because you have two worlds that do intertwine at the surface.

Ajay: After Kirsty takes us down from the dune, Carl shows us around the rest of the site with long beachy grasses on one side and farmland on the other. Sandilands looks a bit like the surface of the moon puckered in shades of gray and brown. But there is something special about this stretch of coastline, and it's not just the water that's starting to collect in the clay lined pools.

Carl: The key thing about the location here is that we are on the, what's called the East Coast Flyway, which is the migration route that birds take north and south, um, from Africa. Uh, where [00:09:00] they, over winter to their breeding grounds in the north, or even here to the uk and then back again at the, um, the end of the breeding season.

And it's a really important area for stopping over resting and refueling before they continue their journey. So I walked the site a few times to, to try and get a feel for what I thought the potential was and what we could do here. And in being in Lincolnshire being on the coast, it quite quickly became apparent to me that we could do something really interesting around creating some wetlands where there are little patches along this coast, but the, the tiny little fragments, it was obvious that the site was under drained, so it was actively drained to keep it dry enough for them to play golf. So all you need to do, if you like, is to stop draining it.

And stop the water from flowing away. Uh, that enables you to create all kinds of fantastic wetland habitats. Um, what you can see in front of us here, and actually it's interesting 'cause there have to be some goals on it. Having a bath, and this was a trial pitch that we [00:10:00] did a couple of years ago, we wanted to test whether or not it would hold water.

So that pond has held water ever since we dug it, even when, when it's been hot, dry weather. So the only water that this site receives is from the sky. And is that going to be enough to deliver what we want? So our technical wizard guy who turned my drawings into technical drawings, did some modeling and calculations and concluded, yes, there is sufficient water coming out of the sky other than possibly the the worst case climate change scenarios, like a really long, hot dry drought when we might struggle .

Ajay: For Carl Wetlands have always been a place of wonder. And he's not alone. The Wild Fowl and Wetlands Trust says if rainforests are the lungs of the planet, then wetlands are the lifeblood. The variety of habitats found in wetlands make them team with life and their water log nature means they can hold up to 10 [00:11:00] times more carbon than a forest.

They also act as a shield against the most extreme weather events by soaking up heavy rainfall, which in the flat and flood prone fields of Lincolnshire is crucial. Their vital and vibrant habitats. Providing a home for some unique feathered friends.

Carl: Going to be for certain breeding birds. So the reeds will, will, will hopefully support birds like breeding bitten and bearded tit and marsh harriers, and then the open water with islands that will support, we hope, again breeding, uh, lapwing.

And then in the, um, migration periods, you get migrating wading birds that are passing through and duck. And like I said, it's the stopping off place for them to rest and refuel. And so we're providing them with a well stop ladder in order to do that.

Ajay: Carl's vision for Sandilands is reed filled pools with the pee whit cry of the lapwings, the swoop of an avocets curled bill across the water, and the booming [00:12:00] call of bittern, a place of safety for the birds that once thrived here.

But Sandilands isn't about recreating something from the past. It's about making something new to serve the people and wildlife that need it so desperately today.

As we reach the diggers that are creating pools of varying depths to support a plethora of species, Carl tells us what he imagines for the future.

Carl: So my, my hope is, is that once the reed developed and it becomes an established reed, people will be able to sit in that area and look out and they'll be able to.

Watch bitten and bearded tits doing their thing. So there's four diggers, two bull dozers and two dumpers on site. It's just elation because it's been so long in the coming. It's been quite tough pulling all this together, but we're finally there. And also for me, I, I, I was kind beginning to feel time, time is possibly running out because I retire in just over [00:13:00] a year's time because if we don't get on with it soon, I'll be gone.

I feel a bit of ownership of responsibility for this one, I suppose 'cause it, it's probably only really happening because, because of me. So it had better work.

Ajay: I make plans to return to Sandilands in May, but while we wait for the rain and the birds, I want to see how Sandilands fits into a bigger picture: both in Lincolnshire and in the world. So I meet Dave Miller, a coastal ranger for the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.

Dave: The Sandlands golf course will be part of the Lincolnshire coastal country park.

So that was set up about 2009, 2010 to try to, you know, kind of increase the biodiversity and natural, um, habitats here along the linkage coast and our small stretch. And that's works really well. So, you know, now we've got Anderby Marsh [00:14:00] Huttoft marsh, lots of wetlands and Privicar Reedbeds all linking together to create a a larger habitat.

And now we've got the golf course.

I'm a keen bird watcher. I enjoy going out and you know, with my binoculars all the time, won't see me without them. But, but the, the reason we do that is because they're easy to see. So birds are seen all year round. They're quite easy to see, so they're really good indicator.

So if you've got a dry field and there's no birds on it whatsoever, except for maybe a couple of starlings you know, and then you wet it and you've got all sudden hundreds of lap wings coming in, or geese coming in, or duck coming in, you know, you've done something and you can tell immediately. So you can, you can see the birds easily.

Ajay: Birds tell us so much about what is going on underneath the surface of the water, but they also tell us about the health of the planet and our wetlands are a tiny piece of the picture.

Dave: We've got to be careful not to look at ourselves in isolation. It's not just kind of what we are doing. It's kind of we are adding to what's already [00:15:00] there or unfortunately, what is being lost elsewhere.

A lot of the time we are creating extra habitats. There's opportunities we can still see more. We can do. And that is what excites me. We are adding, we're really adding to the biodiversity of, uh, of Britain, not just of Lincolnshire but of Britain.

Ajay: Months pass. And we wait for water. Without it, the reeds won't establish, the grass won't grow, and the wetland pools will be little more than a dream.

As the frosty nights turn, balmy the wetlands, hold their breath for rain and keep holding. February is one of the driest on record. March is absent of its icy sprinkles. The April showers don't arrive when we return to Sandilands in early May. To be honest, I dunno what we'll talk about without the rain, the moonscape of mud and sand won't be any greener without the water, the birds won't arrive.[00:16:00]

I arrive at the hotel ready to get up at the crack of dawn to give ourselves the best chance. After dinner in clear sunshine, I lie on my bed thinking about what to say, what could have been a clap of thunder, disturbs my thoughts, and I hear the hammering of rain outside. It lasts for 30 minutes. The first rain in over a month, and it's an absolute downpour, A glimmer of watery hope, but half an hour of rain can't turn around the driest spring on record. Will we see anything?

So it's early morning and we've come to the edge of Sandilands. Um, there's still construction going on, and then there's lots of earthworks, lots of bare soil, water, grass coming through. So we're looking at one of the ponds here. There's a tiny bit of water in the bottom, not a [00:17:00] huge amount.

What could this have looked like if we'd not had such a dry spring?

Carl: I would've expected the water to be just below the level of the path. At this point, um, we, we should be starting the season, the spring, if you like, full. That's the aim. That's what we're designed to do. Uh, it's really unfortunate that in our first year, it's the other way round.

We're start, we're starting empty, and the water, you can see here at the moment, that was just what came last night in that brief storm.

Ajay: As we walk around the site, while the structures look incredible. The boardwalk and pond dipping pontoons. It's hard not to feel a bit dispirited. So much hard work has gone into this site, but Carl, a seasoned veteran in the unpredictability of nature, can still see the future and shows me the scrub that expanded from the dunes.

Carl: At the moment, clearly there's not a lot of Meadow Pipit or Skylark habitat here, but remarkably they are still here. That was one just over there on the bank. [00:18:00] It's probably nesting on the bank 'cause the grass would be sufficient for it to do so. And I did hear Skylark, I'm sure we will hear one a minute.

One will start to rise. I'm sure. So they're still here. They're just waiting.

Ajay: There is a sense of how desperate nature is, grasping at the edges. All that's needed is a little water. As we continue our journey across site, I can't help but clinging to the unlikely hope that the rain last night will be enough.

Ooh, a couple of birds on the water.

Carl: Gulls on the water.

Ajay: An avocet Two avocet.

Oh, we've got some avocet. Oh, nice.

Carl: That's fantastic. Yeah, that's a, that's a new record for Sandlands. Is it really? Yeah. Yeah.

Ajay: Oh, wow. They're quite known for being early colonists arent may of new wetlands.

Yeah.

avocet are black and white long-legged waders. What I find distinctive about them is the way they feed on insects [00:19:00] on the surface of the water, moving their bill from side to side as they hoover up their prey. This is more than we could have hoped for a Sandilands first after just one evening of rain.

Carl: Oh, it's another small wader

Ajay: Oh yeah.

Carl: I think they may be little stint. That's another waiter first for the Sandilands. Amazing. It's exactly what this place is all about. It's a passage migrant. It doesn't breed in the uk. It comes along the East Coast flyaway. And it needs places to stop off, to refuel to rest. That's exactly what these two are doing.

Fantastic. It's working already. We haven't quite finished.

Ajay: So moments like that must give you great satisfaction.

Carl: Absolutely. I know. I can't believe it. 'cause I mean this until it rained last night, this was literally the only little bit of water left on the site, Uhhuh. And we've had to have set down little stint on it.

Ajay: There is [00:20:00] joy and palpable relief at seeing these birds. As we continue across the site, the northerly winds pick up, so we make a dash for one of the grandest bird hides I think I've ever seen. But on the way we spot another bird, a ringed plover, yet another Sandilands first. Three new speed. Three. Three waders. That's fantastic. We picked a good time to come out. Despite the weather, we make it to the hide, freezing and jubilant. The avocet we saw earlier have plot themselves into the pond in front of us.

So Carl, it's been a real privilege to see lots of different birds arriving even before the work's finished.

Carl: I know, I know. It's, it's just quite remarkable. When I was coming over here last night, ready for this morning, uh, I thought, what am I gonna talk about? There's gonna be nothing to see. Um, and na nature, nature proved me wrong again. It's been a good bird [00:21:00] watching morning.

Ajay: Yeah, it has a fantastic morning.

Carl: Let's, let's hope there's gonna be more rain now and, and more water will fill up. And what we should be looking at over here isn't just, um, a couple of pools. It should actually be a wetland and it should be heaving with wildlife. There should be blackhead girls nesting on there with turns and spoonbills and adv assets and stuff like that.

He said dreaming. But that, that will happen eventually. Give it another year or two.

Ajay: Before I leave, I have one more person to see. Kirsty once again takes me up the site's only sand dune to show me its new form.

Kirsty: This will be the first time I've seen the seating area on the mound as well. Oh God. Thank you.

I'm quite excited. I saw a picture, but I've not actually seen it.

Wow. This looks great. Wow. You can actually sit now and, uh, enjoy this space.

Ajay: And panoramic views out to sea.

Kirsty: Yeah, the [00:22:00] sea, the Lincolnshire Wolds, our coast. I can hear a Skylark. Is that Skylark?

Ajay: Yeah. That is a skylark! Yeah,

Kirsty: See? All that walking along the site with Carl does pay off.

Ajay: How are you feeling seeing it all?

Kirsty: Quite overwhelmed actually. Yeah. Feels like it's almost complete. I think when, when the grass has grown up, it will. Um, it feels quite special actually today to see this. Um, but now we're here and I just can't believe it's happened. It feels like all that time and effort and energy is well and truly worth it.

And you can hear the birds around us and, and I think I could sit here for hours. Yeah, we've got a young family and actually seeing nature is really difficult. You know, you walk [00:23:00] along field edges and things like that. There's no margins, there's no hedgerow. So actually seeing and hearing birds is a rarity.

And I often walk around and think, oh, was that a Skylark? Where is it? Where can I see it? Where is it? And so I recognize the noise, but it's not very frequent that you hear it. So it's quite a, it's quite sad actually when you, when you do that. And so doing something like this personally means quite a lot.

So you know that you're making a difference.

Ajay: Thanks for listening to this episode of Wild Tales. You can visit Sandilands as it starts to establish and see the rest of the Lincolnshire Coastal Country Park, which is a haven for birdwatching. We'd like to thank the funders that made Sandilands possible. National Highways, UK Shared Prosperity Fund, stronger Towns Fund Changing Places, leveling Up Fund, and the Statham [00:24:00] Family Charitable Trust for more wild tales.

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