BEFORE August becomes history I decided to pay a visit to the sand dune system around Southport to study the flowers growing there.

The sun was warm enough to have a picnic, get sunburned and photograph the flowers. I was not, however, expecting to see one of Britain's rarest reptiles. There soaking up the sun right before my eyes was a female sand lizard.

Sand lizards are larger than the common lizard and the females lay eggs. These she buries in the sand and they develop and hatch in the heat of the summer sun. In contrast, the common lizard gives birth to live young.

All reptiles and amphibians are cold-blooded but this does not quite mean what it says. Warm-blooded animals like birds and mammals keep a constant body temperature whatever the outside temperature might be. Animals like this stay active all the year round. In contrast "cold-blooded" animals are only cold in winter. Indeed, they are so cold at this time that they have to hibernate. In the summer sunshine "cold-blooded" animals are very hot-blooded beasts and at these times they can move with surprising speed.

I looked at my watch. It was 9.30am and the sand lizard was soaking up the sun ready for a period of feeding. This species is specially protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act and so I moved my picnic area further along the dunes. There seemed to be flowers everywhere of which I was expecting to see. This was the burnet rose, which normally has well developed fruits by now. Most plants had ripe shiny black hips which are very rich in vitamin C but two or three which were facing north still had the lovely white flowers. The burnet rose is low-growing and is even more prickly than the dog roses which dominate the East Lancashire countryside during June and July.

One plant also prominent in the East Lancashire hedgerows is the great bindweed, which is a white flowered climber and a real pest to gardeners.

A relative of this pest is the sea bindweed, which had pink flowers and creeping stems which spread along and into the sand thus helping to stabilise the dunes.

Sand dunes are the most threatened of habitats because until the sand is stabilised by the roots of plants all it takes is a gale force wind. The sand then blows away and you are left with a flat expanse.

It is between the shelter of the dunes that rare plants and animals thrive. We picnickers should enjoy the shelter but take great care not to disturb the habitat or the wildlife.