Welcome to my first report from one of our regions nature reserves. In the coming reports I shall be visiting some of our best loved wild places, but to begin with I chose to visit The National Trust at Victoria Road in Freshfield, Formby.

I love visiting the beach and the pinewoods along our coast at this time of year, there is a tranquility here that makes it very special and very welcome in today's busy hustle and bustle of town life. The coastline is the nearest to truly wild places that we have left in England. To walk along the sands with no other people in sight, and only the sound of the waves, the seabirds, and the wind gives you a rare sense of untamed, natural beauty.

Reaching the beach marker post at Freshfield, I followed the track over the dunes and along to the pinewoods. The mostly Scots Pine plantation is home to a thriving colony of Red Squirrels, and on my visit I found there was a lot of activity, with Squirrels running and jumping through the trees and scampering along the ground searching for buried food. During the winter, the pinewoods can be very peaceful and sheltered from the sometimes harsh winds, and yet I saw few people on my way through the woods. I wonder how many people still do not visit the pinewoods because they think that the Squirrels are hibernating? In fact the only British mammal to truly hibernate is the rare Dormouse! On my walk through the woods in early January, I saw more Red Squirrels than people!

The National Trust have recently opened a new Countryside Work base on Blundell Avenue, and here I met Property Manager Andrew Brockbank. After a brief tour of the new facility, I was invited for a chat with Andrew in his new office. He began by telling me how pleased the National Trust staff at Freshfield are with the new building, which includes a workshop as well as facilities for staff and volunteers and office space. Mr. Brockbank explained that this will give a new focus for operations and more scope for staff to carry out effective management of the site.

I commented upon the Squirrel activity I saw on my way through the pinewoods and asked how the population was faring. "A very good question ... in fact the Population Survey is due to be carried out again in