Beyond the championship lies one of Britain's most important coastal ecosystems. Ahead of The Open, we explore the wildlife, landscapes and conservation efforts that make Royal Birkdale unlike anywhere else in golf.

From championship golf to rare wildlife, Royal Birkdale is more than one of the world's great links courses. It's a living landscape that has evolved for centuries, and one that continues to thrive long after the final putt drops.

For one week every few years, Royal Birkdale becomes the centre of the golfing world.

Grandstands rise from the dunes. Fairways are prepared to championship standard. Hundreds of thousands of spectators descend on one of golf's most iconic venues, all hoping to witness history unfold at The Open.

But before the world's greatest players arrive, another story is already being written.

It's a story told through birdsong drifting across the rough. Through rare orchids hidden among the dunes. Through amphibians, reptiles and insects that call this stretch of coastline home. It's a story that reminds us that long before championship golf existed, this landscape already did.

For the launch of Reflo's Living Links Collection, we travelled to Royal Birkdale alongside ecologist Sophie Olejnik, who works with The R&A to help protect biodiversity before, during and after The Open. Together, we explored one of Britain's most remarkable golf courses, not through the eyes of a golfer, but through the eyes of the wildlife that lives here every day.

A Landscape That Never Stops Changing

Royal Birkdale sits within the Sefton Coast, the largest sand dune system in England. 
Stretching for miles along the Lancashire coastline, it's recognised as both a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation, making it one of the UK's most significant protected landscapes.

It's easy to admire the dramatic views from the fairways, but beneath the surface lies a living ecosystem that's constantly evolving.

Unlike woodland or farmland, sand dunes are never truly static. Wind reshapes the contours. Vegetation establishes itself before retreating again. New habitats emerge while others slowly disappear. Every season brings subtle changes, and every year the landscape tells a slightly different story.

It's this constant movement that inspired the Living Links Collection.

The flowing prints mirror the shifting contours of the dunes. Earthy sand tones reflect the landscape underfoot, while soft greens echo the native grasses that define links golf. Rather than borrowing inspiration from trends, the collection takes its cues directly from one of golf's most extraordinary environments.

Because this isn't just a golf course.

It's a landscape that's still alive.

🌾 Did you know? 
The Sefton Coast is England's largest sand dune system and is protected as both a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) thanks to its internationally important habitats and wildlife.

Where Golf and Nature Share the Same Space

One of the most fascinating things about links golf is that the game has never truly been separate from nature.

Every bounce, every gust of wind and every uneven lie exists because of the landscape beneath it. The same dunes that shape championship golf also provide sanctuary for an incredible diversity of wildlife.

As Sophie explains, golf and ecology aren't competing interests.

They depend on one another.

That relationship is exactly why environmental planning begins more than a year before The Open arrives.

Working alongside The R&A and the greenkeeping team, Sophie's role is to ensure that temporary infrastructure, spectator routes and hospitality areas can be introduced with as little impact on local biodiversity as possible.

Ground, nesting birds, sensitive habitats and protected species are all carefully considered months before the first grandstand is built.

It's a reminder that hosting one of the world's biggest sporting events isn't simply about preparing the course.

It's about protecting everything that surrounds it.

Meet the Residents of Royal Birkdale

For many golfers, the rough is simply somewhere to avoid. For wildlife, it's an entire world.

One of the stars of the Living Links Collection is the Stonechat, a small bird that has become something of a symbol for the dunes around Royal Birkdale.

They've become a defining feature of the landscape and a natural choice to feature throughout the collection's artwork.

Sharing the dunes are Skylarks, famous for their soaring display flights above the fairways, alongside Meadow Pipits, Yellowhammers and Linnets, each relying on different areas of scrub and grassland to breed successfully. 

Editor's Note

Perched on top of gorse bushes and hawthorn scrub, Stonechats are often heard before they're seen. Its call sounds remarkably like two stones being tapped together, exactly how it earned its name.

Away from the birds, another of Britain's rarest species calls the Sefton Coast home.

The Natterjack Toad may not be the first animal people associate with championship golf, but the wider dune system supports around 40% of the UK's population. Unlike common toads, Natterjacks rely on shallow pools and open sandy habitats, making healthy dune systems essential to their survival.

They're also Britain's loudest amphibian, a fitting resident for a landscape that comes alive with sound throughout the summer months.

Elsewhere, Sand Lizards inhabit neighbouring dunes, while the work carried out across Royal Birkdale continues to improve the conditions needed for them to eventually return.

Then there are the species that many visitors never notice at all.

Tiny dune plants like Pearlwort. The nationally vulnerable Marsh Helleborine orchid, which flowers in remarkable numbers within the dune slacks. Countless butterflies, moths and insects that depend on rough grassland throughout their life cycles. 

As Sophie points out, even a small patch of rough can be an entire universe for the creatures that live within it.

Perhaps "rough" isn't the right golfing term after all. 

The Greenkeepers Shaping a Living Landscape

Maintaining Royal Birkdale is about far more than championship conditions. 
Unlike links courses sitting directly beside the shoreline, Birkdale lies further inland within the dune system. Natural sand movement is less frequent, meaning the greenkeeping team actively recreates many of the processes that would otherwise happen naturally.

Sand scrapes are formed to mimic wind, blown dune blowouts.

Grasslands are carefully cut and collected to replicate the grazing once provided by livestock and wild rabbits.

Scrub is managed to maintain the delicate balance between open dunes and sheltered nesting habitats. 

"Golf doesn’t exist separately from nature. It exists because of it.”

Every management decision helps preserve the unique mosaic of habitats that has made the Sefton Coast internationally important for wildlife.

More Than Championship Golf

It's easy to think of Royal Birkdale only through the lens of The Open.

The towering grandstands.

The pressure, packed finishing holes.

The names etched onto the Claret Jug. 

But those moments represent only a tiny fraction of this landscape's story.

When the crowds leave each evening, bats emerge above the ponds to hunt insects.

Stonechats settle back into the gorse. 

The evening light falls across the dune slacks where orchids continue to bloom unnoticed by most visitors.

Insects move through grasses that many golfers simply call rough.

The course becomes quiet again, not empty, but alive.

In many ways, golf courses like Royal Birkdale function as nature reserves in their own right. Vast areas of habitat remain largely undisturbed between holes, creating safe spaces for wildlife to flourish alongside one of the world's most famous sporting venues.

Golf just happens to be played here.

The Species Behind the Collection

Every detail within the Living Links Collection tells part of this story.

The flowing graphics are inspired by the ever changing movement of the dunes.

Natural colour palettes reflect the sands, grasses and coastal vegetation that define the links landscape.

The Stonechat appears as a recurring emblem throughout the range, celebrating one of Royal Birkdale's most recognisable residents, while illustrations of the Marsh Helleborine orchid acknowledge one of the dune system's rarest botanical treasures. Rather than simply designing apparel inspired by golf, Living Links celebrates the environment that makes links golf possible in the first place. 

Looking Beyond The Open

The Open lasts for a single week.

The landscape continues evolving every day before it, and every day after.

That's why this story doesn't end here.

Ahead of the Championship, Sophie has documented the wildlife, habitats and ecological character of Royal Birkdale. Once the final putt has been holed and the grandstands have disappeared, Sophie returns to the same locations to continue the story.

What changes? What remains? And what can one of the world's biggest sporting events teach us about living alongside nature?

It's a reminder that while golfers compete to master the landscape for four unforgettable days, the landscape itself has been evolving for centuries.

Long after the champion has lifted the Claret Jug, the Stonechats will still sing from the gorse. The orchids will flower again. The dunes will continue to shift. And Royal Birkdale will remain exactly what it has always been, a living links landscape where championship golf and extraordinary nature exist side by side.

Explore the Living Links Collection

Inspired by the wildlife, shifting dunes and natural beauty of Royal Birkdale, the Living Links Collection celebrates one of golf's most extraordinary landscapes.