Sandscale Haws is a national nature reserve on the

Duddon Estuary The Duddon Estuary is the sandy, gritty estuary of the River Duddon that lies between Morecambe Bay and the North Lonsdale coast. The River Duddon and its estuary form part of the boundary of the historic county of Lancashire. It opens into th ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England. It is managed by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. Resident species include the

natterjack toad The natterjack toad (''Epidalea calamita'') is a toad native to sandy and heathland areas of Europe. Adults are 60–70 mm in length, and are distinguished from common toads by a yellow line down the middle of the back and parallel paratoid g ...

Industrial history

Sandscale brick and tile works appears on the 1850

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map. The Sandscale Mining Company was formed in 1877 by members of the Millom & Askham Company. The lease was signed by the then landowner Thomas Woodburne. Thomas Woodburne also built Sandscale cottages in 1882, which were rented to the mine captains. RoanheadSandscale 001

The mines were taken over by Kennedy Brothers in 1893 and worked until 1905 but the pumps were kept running at Sandscale No2 to assist at

Roanhead Roanhead (sometimes spelled Ronhead) refers to the limestone outcrop of Roanhead Crag in Cumbria and the farmland behind it, but in recent years the term has been taken to mean the sandy beaches adjoining Sandscale Haws extending to Snab Point. T ...

. The steam pumping engine was replaced by an electric pump in 1928. The headgear was removed and the shaft covered in 1937.CRO, Barrow BD/BUC/58/1 Myles Burton Kennedy trained the local yeomanry here, the range can be seen on the 1905 OS map. During the war, the dunes were used as a decoy site and several brick structures remain from this period. In 1954 the estate was bought by

British Cellophane British Cellophane Ltd (BCL) was a joint venture company formed in 1935 between La Cellophane SA and Courtaulds, when they began building a major factory for producing Cellophane in Bridgwater, Somerset, England. History 19th century The proce ...

who built the present farmhouse and demolished the old one. Shortly before BCL Barrow was closed, the present nature reserve was sold to the National Trust by Courtaulds.

Ecology

The reserve's sand dunes support a population of natterjack toads (''

Bufo calamita The natterjack toad (''Epidalea calamita'') is a toad native to sandy and heathland areas of Europe. Adults are 60–70 mm in length, and are distinguished from common toads by a yellow line down the middle of the back and parallel paratoid g ...

''). The species, which is nationally rare in Britain, is adapted to breed in ephemeral waterbodies. Another amphibian present is the great crested newt (''

Triturus cristatus The northern crested newt, great crested newt or warty newt (''Triturus cristatus'') is a newt species native to Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and parts of Western Siberia. It is a large newt, with females growing up to ...

'').

Protection

Sandscale Haws was formerly a separate

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

, but in 1990 it was amalgamated with other SSSIs to form the Duddon Estuary SSSI. It is also protected under the European Union´s Directives relating to wildlife and nature conservation. * The Duddon Estuary is a

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cert ...

under the

Birds Directive The Birds Directive (formally known as Council Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds) is the oldest piece of EU legislation on the environment and one of its cornerstones which was unanimously adopted in April 1979 as the Dire ...

. Sandscale Haws provides high tide

roost Roost may refer to: Animal resting * Roosting, resting behavior of birds * Communal roosting, a behavior of some birds and other animals * Monarch butterfly roosts, communal resting sites in monarch butterfly migration * Bat roost, a list of pla ...

s for

wader 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

s and wildfowl. * Sandscale Haws is included in the Morecambe Bay Special Area of Conservation under the

Habitats Directive The Habitats Directive (more formally known as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The E ...

Facilities

There is a car park from with access by

boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bridge ...

to the beach and to the pools used by amphibians.

References

External links