On a beautifully sunny but very breezy day, 11 of us joined HM
Coastguards and a number of local people – adults, children and a dog or two
– to spend the morning helping in the national Beachwatch weekend, organised
by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). We were litter picking on the
beach at Howden’s Pullover, on the Saltfleetby/Theddlethorpe coast. Armed
with black bin liners and protective gloves, we spread out, walking on the
sand, along the path by the dunes or wading through the sea lavender,
collecting litter as we went. Plastic bags, drink bottles, bits of fishing
net and crab pots, old gloves and shoes, pallets, an old cooker top, a large
old marker buoy, etc, etc. In the safety talk we were told not to pick up
anything which looked like unexploded shells (we were near a military firing
range!), dog poo (quite a lot of it around), syringes etc.
At lunch time we moved south along the coast a short distance to Crook Bank, where we found a sheltered area in the wood for our lunch - managing to avoid getting sand in the sandwiches - and a much needed cup of tea. We then joined Natural England for the afternoon, to continue with the litter picking. No big pallets or marker buoys this time, but plenty of plastic rubbish. We were defeated by a large carpet which, soaking wet and covered with sand, was just too heavy to move.
And everything was monitored – checked off against a list to identify the
sort of things that were being found, contributing to the MCS data about
beach litter (see www.mcsuk.org).
Windswept and glowing from the sun we finished the day with the sense of a job well done.
And, finally, welcome back to Nick, after his year in New Zealand.
Jude
(More images available on the Picasa website)