A former golf course on the Lincolnshire coast has reopened as a nature reserve, and birds arrived before the public did.

The National Trust transformed Sandilands, a 2-kilometer stretch of coastline near Mablethorpe, into wetlands, wading pools, rough grassland, and coastal scrub. The reserve opened to the public this weekend.

Little ringed plovers and avocets nested this summer as soon as fairways and bunkers became shallow pools and islands. Marsh harriers, sandwich terns, water rails, and spotted redshank have also moved in. The site sits on the East Atlantic flyway, a major bird migration route.

The private club, founded in 1894, went into liquidation in 2018. The trust bought the 30-hectare site in 2020, moved 52,000 cubic meters of earth, and planted more than 35,000 native coastal shrubs.

The project cost over 3.7 million pounds, funded by the Mablethorpe Towns Fund, National Highways, and government grants. Fifty local volunteers have signed up to help. A site once open to a few hundred golfers is now free for everyone.