The northern dune tiger beetle is particularly fast moving and can travel at up to 2.5m a second, said Harper.
“As far we know, the rare beetles can only be found at two locations in the UK – the Sefton sand dunes between Southport and Liverpool and Drigg in Cumbria,” he said.
The team plan to survey the beetle’s population and try and determine whether there are other suitable sites for it to inhabit in Cumbria.
Harper said the next step would be to determine whether it was suitable for any of the Merseyside beetles to be relocated to new sites in Cumbria in order to start new populations.
“The answer to that may be no,” Harper said.
Meanwhile the team’s plan to aid the natterjack toad is to try and figure out how to best reverse the degradation of Cumbria’s sand dunes.
This could involve artificially creating corridors in the dunes to channel wind so sand can move around more, Harper said.
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