Mere Sands Wood

Mere Sands Wood is a 42-hectare nature reserve between the villages of Holmeswood and Rufford in west Lancashire. It lies about eight kilometres from Ormskirk on land once beside Martin Mere. The reserve contains lakes, mature broadleaved and conifer woodland, sandy wet meadows and heaths. It stands on layers of sand and peat left by the last ice age above boulder clay. A visitor centre, two nature trails, six wildlife hides and one viewing platform are provided. The reserve attracts over 170 bird species, sixty of which have bred there. Regular sightings include roe deer, stoats and foxes, while seventeen mammal species live in the area including a small population of red squirrels. Fifteen dragonfly species can be found, ten of which have bred at the site. The woodland is mainly birch and oak with a Scots pine plantation where the red squirrels live. Two hundred species of fungi have been recorded in the reserve. Originally part of Martin Mere lake with Arthurian links, the area once held a fishery stocked with eels and freshwater fish. Between 1974 and 1982 sand was quarried for glass-making before the site was landscaped into a nature reserve. The Wildlife Trust acquired the reserve in 1982 and it was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1985. Each year tens of thousands of visitors come to see its wildlife and landscapes. In March 2020 one of the hides, dedicated to Cyril Gibbons, was destroyed by arson.