The dune messiahs

Christmas trees keep tide at bay

- Josh Halliday

Britain’s fight against climate breakdown may usually look like windfarms or solar energy. But on miles of Lancashire coast the frontline is rather more festive.

Tens of thousands of discarded Christmas trees have been partially buried on beaches south of Blackpool as a frontier against rising sea levels.

In a biting February wind, hundreds of volunteers haul the tinsel-free trees into shallow trenches and let nature do its work. Within weeks, or sometimes days, they morph into sand dunes to protect homes on the seafront.

It might sound like a peculiar festive tradition but conservationists say their work is increasingly vital: since the mid-1800s, the Lancashire coast is believed to have lost 80% of its sand dunes because of the rapid growth of seaside towns such as Blackpool and Lytham St Annes.