From festive cheer to coastal defense: a surprising solution is protecting Britain's shores!
While you might picture wind turbines or vast solar farms when you think of the UK's battle against climate change, the frontline in Lancashire tells a far more festive tale. Imagine this: tens of thousands of discarded Christmas trees, stripped of their tinsel and baubles, are being strategically buried along the beaches south of Blackpool. It might sound like an unusual holiday tradition, but this ingenious method is a crucial defense against the relentless rise of sea levels.
Picture a blustery February day, with hundreds of dedicated volunteers working tirelessly. They're hauling these once-celebrated trees into shallow trenches, allowing nature to work its magic. In a matter of days or weeks, these humble trees transform into new sand dunes, acting as a natural barrier to shield seaside homes from the encroaching waves.
But here's where it gets controversial: This isn't just a quirky local custom; conservationists are hailing it as an increasingly vital strategy. Why? Because the Lancashire coastline has suffered a dramatic loss. Since the mid-1800s, it's estimated that a staggering 80% of its sand dunes have vanished. This erosion is largely due to the rapid expansion of popular seaside towns like Blackpool and Lytham St Annes. As Amy Pennington from the Lancashire Wildlife Trust explains, "Sand dunes used to extend for miles and miles inland, but we’ve colonized and built the towns, so now they’re a very thin fragment of what they used to be." This makes these dunes the only natural sea defense for the local communities.
This innovative use of Christmas trees isn't entirely new. Volunteers have been burying them along these beaches for over three decades! The Guardian photographer Christopher Thomond first documented this effort back in 1994. However, the project has seen a significant surge in activity over the past decade, directly correlating with the accelerating rise in sea levels. The UK has already lost approximately 30% of its sand dunes since 1900, with sea levels rising by about 19.5cm. Alarmingly, two-thirds of this rise has occurred in the last 30 years, outpacing the global average.
Pennington further highlights the urgency, noting that an increase in storm surges has significantly accelerated dune loss. "We've noticed with storm surges, the tide pushes a lot further up the beach, so the dunes get washed away more regularly," she states, underscoring the potential flooding risk to coastal properties.
And this is the part most people miss: Beyond their role as a natural climate buffer, these dunes are also a vital habitat for wildlife. Burrowed within these sandy mounds in Lytham St Annes are some of the UK's rarest reptiles. In 2020, hundreds of sand lizards, unseen in the area for approximately 60 years, were reintroduced to these dunes. Conservationists are thrilled to report that these elusive creatures are not just surviving but thriving, with sightings of young lizards indicating successful breeding.
Andy Singleton-Mills, the area conservation manager for Fylde council, cautions that spotting these striped green and brown reptiles is no easy feat. They're incredibly shy and tend to flee from humans, making them as elusive as "trying to find a needle in a haystack."
Just last week, a remarkable 650 volunteers descended upon Lytham beach, with the iconic Blackpool Tower in the distance. They buried around 2,000 Christmas trees, generously donated from across Lancashire. These trees, mostly free of rogue plastic and the occasional bauble, are laid along a two-mile stretch of beach, interspersed with marram grass. The deep roots of this hardy grass, which can extend up to 100 meters, play a crucial role in anchoring the sand and stabilizing the newly forming dunes.
Pennington is optimistic that these new dunes, which can reach heights of up to 3 meters (10ft), will offer robust protection against the elements for the foreseeable future. However, she acknowledges the long-term challenge: as sea levels continue to climb, within the next five years, the focus will shift from building dunes outwards towards the Irish Sea to building them upwards. "Eventually, we will get to a point where the tide is regularly meeting the work we've done, so they will just be swept away. But that doesn't mean we have to stop building them out; we will just start building them up."
For some, sand dunes might seem like an inconvenient barrier to the beach. For others, they're a playground for windswept games. Artist Holly Moeller, who has captured the beauty of the Lytham dunes in her artwork, believes people are "in danger of taking them for granted." She beautifully describes them as "such an amazing habitat – there's so much going on that you don't see at first glance." Moeller also shares a deeply personal connection, finding solace in the vastness of the dunes during challenging times, stating, "At difficult points in my life when I've struggled with mental health, there's something about the coast and the dunes that is big enough to hold that. It's a place to come for solace."
What are your thoughts on this unique approach to coastal defense? Do you believe more unconventional methods like this should be explored to combat climate change? Share your opinions in the comments below!
