250 turn out to plant trees and save the dunes

The role of a Marketing Officer is never purely what it says on the contract. Having worked at the Trust for seven months now, I have been on various team building trips to learn more about the inner workings of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and help support the charity I work for.

However, none of these trips have been quite so adventurous as the Christmas Tree Planting Day on the Fylde Sand Dunes.

If you’re like me, planting real, recycled Christmas trees on a beach may sound like an alien concept, but there are good reasons for us doing this.

Why are we planting Christmas trees?

Far from creating a Christmas grotto, planting Christmas trees in the sand dunes is a great way to expand the dune system.

The dunes are incredibly important to the people of Fylde. They act as a wind-break, absorbing the energy of the sea during storms, and also act as a natural barrier to the sea at high tide, releasing sand during storms to ease wave action and reduce the risk of flooding. Plus, they are a fantastic place to walk and get away from it all, and as wild and rugged as they seem, the dunes are a valuable wildlife habitat for often rare species of plants and animals.

Sadly, 80 per cent of our sand dunes have been lost to development and erosion in the past 150 years, so our Christmas Tree Planting Days are crucial to bringing them back.

How do we do it?

Sitting in the office all day means that when the opportunity arises to get outdoors and do some manual labour, I jump at the chance to don my wellies and warm clothes and embrace the elements. It wasn’t an easy job, but totally worth it when you understand the positive effects it has on the environment, the local community and your own mindfulness.

Christmas trees were donated to the Fylde Sand Dunes Project by members of the public after the festive season. Many of these trees were collected by volunteers from Trinity Hospice in Blackpool in return for a donation. The hospice raised a fantastic £12,000, and donated the trees to the Sand Dunes Project.

These were transported onto the dunes by tractor and trailer, while a mini-digger dug trenches in the sand. Our job was to carry, lift or drag the Christmas trees into the trench and angle the top of the tree towards the sea. We then back-filled the trench with sand and the rest is left to nature.

How did it go?

Over the three days of Christmas tree planting more than 250 volunteers planted more than 2,000 Christmas trees on the North Beach at St Anne’s. This is an incredible achievement for the Living Seas team and the Fylde Sand Dunes project, and we can’t wait to do it all again next year.