Come and celebrate the amazing wildlife found in and around the Irish Sea at Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s annual Beached Art event, featuring the popular sand sculpture competition.

Bring the family along on Saturday 4 August to St Bees Beach between 11.00am and 5.00pm for rockpool rambles, face painting, kite flying, sea watches, mud pies and much more!

The sand sculpture competition starts at 11.00am with judging and prize-giving from 12.30pm onwards. Sian Bentley of Cumbria Wildlife Trust says: “The competition is always a highlight of the day. You don’t need any previous experience – all are welcome to take part. Whether you want to have go at crafting a crab or designing a dolphin, the only rules are that the sculpture should be just be made from sand and other natural materials found on the beach and be inspired by Irish Sea wildlife. Come and have a go!”

There are some great prizes up for grabs this year, including tickets for Windermere Lake Cruises, Hayes Garden World Fairy and Dragon World, Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, Lowther Castle, Ullswater Steamers and Muncaster Castle.

Face-painting, kite-flying and arts and crafts, including mud pies, will be taking place all day, and there’ll be a mobile rockpool throughout the event.

Here’s an overview of the day:
11.00am Beached Art sand sculpture competition starts
11.30am Rockpooling (and at 1.30pm) – discover the little critters that live in rockpools
12.30pm Sand sculpture competition prize-giving
12.30pm Coastal bird walk (and at 3pm) – experts will show you some of our great sea birds
2.00pm Sea Watch – come and find out where seals and porpoises hang out in our waters!

You can take part in the sand sculpture competition for £3.00 per plot and face painting for £2.00. All other activities are free. To book your sand sculpture plot call 01539 816300 or email [email protected] to reserve a place. You can register on the day from 11.00am.