Birkdale Sandhills Local Nature Reserve and Hillside Golf Club lie to the right of the 17th fairway. Near the green and into the nature reserve, the rare and declining SAND LIZARD is present.

This elusive yet spectacularly coloured lizard is one of Britain’s rarest reptiles. The males are especially resplendent with bright lime-green flanks. The Sand Lizard is Britain’s only egg-laying lizard, living in burrows dug into the ground. It preys on invertebrates, including a variety of spiders and beetles. Sand lizards may occupy the same small patch of dune ridge throughout their whole lives.

Sand Lizards only occur naturally in scattered populations in Dorset, Surrey and the dunes of the Sefton Coast.

Royal Birkdale Golf Club is working in partnership with the Sefton Coast Life Project and English Nature’s Species Recovery Programme to conserve this rare and beautiful animal.