All around the natural world is beginning to stir, emerging drowsily from a soft duvet of snow.

Fylde Sand Dunes

January is the month of our annual Christmas tree planting event, bringing hundreds of volunteers to our coastline each year, come rain, wind, or shine, to help grow the dunes.

This vital and threatened coastal habitat is home to specialised plants, breeding birds like skylark and reed bunting, rare sand lizards which have been reintroduced as part of the Fylde Sand Dunes Project, and, in summer, is teaming with insects and butterflies. 

Between cups of tea and tireless digging, volunteers admired ocean treasures, from the washed-up egg cases of skate and ray to pretty shells, and clumps of whelk eggs.

The distinctive call of a stonechat was also heard on the wind, another bird that breeds amongst the rolling dunes.

Did you know... the song of the stonechat sounds like two pebbles being tapped together, giving them their name.

Morecambe Bay

A shimmering expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand, Morecambe Bay welcomes over a quarter of a million birds each year to rest, roost and feed lavishly on the mud-dwelling creatures beneath the surface. 

Last month, a black redstart was spotted by a group of birdwatchers at Knott End. This robin-sized bird is on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern with plumage that transitions from smokey grey on top to an orange-red tail. 

Over at Heysham harbour, kittiwakes fished in the outfalls, and curlew flew overhead. Pale-bellied brent geese fed between the tides and little egret, rock pipet, heron, cormorant, and kingfisher were all spotted by the water's edge. Even a grey seal was seen bottling in the waves.

At Heysham Nature Reserve, goldcrests twinkled amongst the trees, and the kitten-soft catkins of pussy willow began to bud.

Brockholes Nature Reserve

January brought some drama to the landscape of Brockholes Nature Reserve; as the lakes froze over the skies set alight.

Eagle-eyed visitors were treated to the glimpse of a fluffed-up fox silently skulking the frosted paths.

Meanwhile, birds of all shapes, sizes, and colours decorated the trees like forgotten Christmas ornaments. Nuthatch, tree-creeper, song thrush, robin, woodpecker, and bullfinch were among the many that danced amongst the branches last month.

A marsh tit too was also seen at Brockholes last month, only the second individual to be recorded here since 1998. 

Did you know... marsh tits and willow tits are almost indistinguishable in appearance, but marsh tits have a glossier black cap and a 'pitchoo' call that sounds like a sneeze!

What will you spot at our nature reserves this month? Let us know on social media using the buttons below.