August Wildlife on the Sefton Coast: What to Look For

21 August 2026

Dragonflies and Damselflies: Peak Month

August is the best single month for odonata on the Sefton Coast. The Marshside RSPB scrapes hold multiple species through the summer, with peak numbers in late July and August before the first frosts begin to reduce populations in September.

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) is the species you will see most reliably in August. The male is brick-red with a narrow abdomen, the female and immature birds are yellow-brown. It is a perching dragonfly that uses exposed stems, fence posts and flat rocks to bask. Marshside's reed edges and the scrape margins are the right habitat. They are bold enough that close approach with a camera is often possible.

Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) occurs alongside Common Darter but is less frequent. The male is a deeper, blood-red with a distinctly pinched abdomen. Worth checking carefully when you find a group of red darters. The two species often occur together at Marshside.

Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis) is the large, unmistakable hawker of August: amber-brown wings, blue markings on the male. It patrols relentlessly over open water and along the reed edges, rarely settling. The Marshside scrapes and the pools on the Nels Hide path are the most reliable locations.

Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) is present in large numbers on the reed margins through August. Easy to overlook unless you are looking for it specifically. The female has several colour forms including a pink immature form that catches people off-guard.

Seabirds: The Season Ending

The little tern colony at Ainsdale is approaching the end of its breeding season in August. Young birds from successful nests will be flying by mid-August. The colony warden presence reduces as the season concludes. By the end of August, the first birds have already departed for their West African wintering grounds.

Common tern numbers at Marshside remain reasonable in early August before post-breeding dispersal takes birds south. Check the colony posts and scrape margins. Terns in August are beginning to look rougher than they did in June: worn plumage, some adults already showing the black bill tip reappearing as the orange fades.

Gannets are starting to appear offshore in August as post-breeding birds disperse from Scottish colonies. Seawatching from Formby Point on days with a westerly or north-westerly wind is productive. August is the beginning of the autumn seawatching season, not the peak, but a decent westerly can bring good numbers past the point.

Waders: First Autumn Arrivals

The wader passage at Marshside begins in earnest in August. Birds that bred in the Arctic and subarctic tundra are already moving south through Britain. Marshside RSPB is one of the best accessible sites in the North West for watching this movement.

Dunlin are the most numerous passage wader through August. They arrive in mixed flocks often alongside Ringed Plover. Both species use the muddy edges of the Marshside scrapes. Numbers build through the month and into September.

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) is the August wader to search for carefully. Adults in worn summer plumage can appear from late July. Juveniles, with their neat scaly upperparts and peach wash to the breast, follow in August and September. They are usually found in Dunlin flocks: check for the distinctive decurved bill.

Greenshank and Green Sandpiper appear at Marshside from July and continue through August. Both species prefer slightly deeper water than the smallest waders. The pools on the Nels Hide path are productive for both.

Dune Flora: Late Summer Species

The dune flowering season at Formby, Ainsdale and Birkdale extends into August with different species taking over from the June and July peaks. Sea Holly is still in flower in early August, its steely blue bracts fading toward the end of the month. Viper's Bugloss, which colours sections of the Ainsdale dunes intensely blue-purple in July, continues into August.

Late summer fungi begin to appear in the Formby pinewoods from mid-August. Russula species are among the first. The main autumn fungi season does not begin until September and October, but August walks in the pinewoods are starting to show early fruitings on the woodland floor.

Bloody Crane's-bill (Geranium sanguineum) flowers into August on the more stable dune grassland sections. The vivid magenta-pink flowers are disproportionately showy for a plant of open grassland and are worth looking for on the dune system north of Formby village.

Where to Go in August

Marshside RSPB: hides open from dawn. August mornings are excellent for dragonflies on the scrape margins and waders on the mud. The Stan and Peggy Scott hide gives the best views of the main scrape. The path to the Nels Hide is the most productive for mixed wader and passerine activity.

Formby pinewoods: the squirrel trail and woodland path network. Early morning for red squirrels, which are increasingly active as September approaches. The pinewoods floor for early fungi.

Formby Point: seawatching on westerly days. Stand facing the sea and scan systematically. August is the beginning rather than the peak of the autumn seawatching season, but an hour in the right conditions is always worth it.

Ainsdale beach: the little tern colony area at the northern end of the managed beach zone. The colony wardens are still present in early August. Respect the fencing.