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Walney Island

This 10-mile-long narrow island is joined to the Furness Peninsula by a bridge from Barrow docks and is home to two important nature reserves that re situated at either end of the island. North Walney National ature Reserve covers some 350 acres within which are a great variety of habitats including sand dunes, heath, salt marsh, shingle and scrub. As well as having several species of orchid and over 130 species of bird either living or visiting the reserve, there is also an area for the preservation of the natterjack toad,Britain's rarest amphibian. Unique to the Reserve is the Walney Geranium, a plant that grows nowhere else in the world. North Walney also boasts a rich prehistoric past, with important archaeological sites from mesolithic, neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age times.

Situated on the island's long foot, South Walney Nature Reserve is home to the largest nesting ground of herring gulls and lesser black-backed gulls in Europe. It is also the most southerly breeding ground of such species as the oystercatcher, tern and ringed plover and, in all, over 250 bird species have been recorded. A stopover for many migratory birds, the reserve has coniderable ecological interest with mudflats, sandy beaches, rough pasture and fresh water. There are waymarked trails around the reserve, with a number of hides.

The island's southernmost tip, Walney Point, is dominated by a 70ft lighthouse, which was built in 1790 and whose light was, originally, an oil lamp.