The impact of sand extraction at Formby Point ... - Sefton Council

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1961. The 1945 aerial photo shows that sand-winning invaded this area but evidence on
the ground has been obscured by later accretion. About 100m north of the Rifle Range
boundary is an enclave of lower-lying land extending about 100m westwards and
probably representing an old extraction site. Except for some low semi-fixed, ridges, this
area is now largely covered with Creeping Willow. One deeper basin (slack 28) was
excavated as a small Natterjack Toad scrape in 1988 and reprofiled in 2005. The
shallow central area has been colonised by Common Spike-rush (Eleocharis palustris)
and Water Horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile), while the dryer surrounds support a rich plant
community, including Small-fruited Yellow-sedge, marsh orchids, Grass-of-Parnassus,
Seaside Centaury, Knotted Pearlwort, etc. Another, larger, slack basin to the south (slack
26) is mostly dominated by tall Creeping Willow but, around the margins, it has Marsh
Helleborine, marsh-orchids and the nationally scarce Round-leaved Wintergreen, the
latter in some abundance.
To the east is a large enclosure winter-grazed by Herdwick sheep and year-round by
Rabbits. Most of this plot has a more-or-less level topography with extensive Creeping
Willow. Slightly higher ground supports a sward of Red Fescue and Marram with much
Dewberry. Small, scattered, bare patches are associated with Rabbit activity but sheep
do not seem to have had much effect on the substrate. The Dune Helleborine has been
recorded as “local” on fixed-dunes within the reserve (English Nature 2004) but was not
observed during my visits. There is a scattering of larger willows, mainly Grey Willow,
but also many bushes of Salix x friesiana and one or two that may be S. x angusensis. A
small plot, fenced to exclude livestock, is heavily colonised by large willows. The
frequency of willow bushes increases near to the main borrow-pit, this being one of the
greatest concentrations on the Sefton coast of rare willow hybrids, including about 50
bushes of Salix x friesiana. Adjacent to the borrow-pit are two large (c. 1ha) wet-slack
basins, numbered 2 and 20 by Smith (1978a). No. 20 supports an important population of
Flat-sedge and a number of willows, including a single Purple Willow (S. purpurea), one
bush of S. x doniana, 18 of S. x friesiana and also a Bay Willow (S. pentandra) which,
although not notable, is rare in the dunes.