A former golf course north of Skegness on the Lincolnshire coast has been transformed into a 30-hectare wetlands nature reserve, which is open to the public from Saturday, the National Trust announced. The project, which took six years of planning, consultation, and habitat creation, aimed to convert the area’s previous fairways and greens into a diverse mosaic of wetlands, grassland, and coastal scrub.
The new reserve, named Sandilands, is situated within the Lincolnshire Coastal Country Park, a five-mile stretch featuring sandy beaches, dunes, grazing marshes, saltmarsh, coastal lagoons, and reedbeds. The site lies along the internationally significant East Coast Flyway, a major migration route used by thousands of birds traveling annually between Arctic and northern European breeding grounds and southern wintering areas.
The National Trust’s efforts seek to provide vital habitats for a range of bird species, including lapwings, snipes, terns, and gulls, as well as a crucial stopover for migratory birds such as black-tailed godwits, spotted redshanks, and spoonbills. According to rangers, species like avocets and oystercatchers have already nested and bred at the site, and little ringed plover chicks have been observed for the second consecutive year—even before the reserve was officially completed.
Despite challenges posed by recent droughts and record-breaking heat, project teams expressed optimism about how the wetlands will continue to evolve during the wetter winter months. Katie Scott, area ranger for the National Trust at Sandilands, highlighted the importance of the reserve for endangered and rare species, many of which have red or amber conservation statuses. She emphasized that the new wetland area will extend the safe refuges available to these birds, enabling them to rest, feed, breed, and ultimately thrive during their long migrations.
The transformation of the former golf course involved significant earthworks, with nearly 52,000 cubic meters of soil relocated—an amount equivalent to filling 21 Olympic-sized swimming pools—to create new wetland habitats. More than 35,000 native coastal shrubs, including sea buckthorn, gorse, goat willow, and blackthorn, were planted as part of the habitat restoration.
In addition to benefiting wildlife, Sandilands is intended to enhance public access to natural spaces for residents of nearby communities such as Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea. The site has been designed with accessibility in mind, accommodating visitors of all ages and abilities.
Overall, the addition of Sandilands to the Lincolnshire Coastal Country Park is expected to support broader conservation efforts along the coast, providing an important ecological stepping stone at a time when natural habitats face increasing environmental and climate-related pressures.