Every day we collect aging plastic pollution, cans and glass bottles from Solent shores.
This old glass bottle seems representative of our time of Corona. How long has it been floating around the Solent? Fifty years? The Litter Pickers of the New Forest found me this 1960s advert for the original bottles with the same cream metal cap.
The Deposit Return Scheme running at the time ensured that most were returned to the manufacturers but I’ve found a couple on the shore. One that held ‘Limeade’ with a 3d deposit return label is selling for £23 on Ebay where it is described as ‘a lovely piece of nostalgia.’
How old would this re-useable Unigate milk bottle be? 1980s? Forty years? They have also become collectors’ items. One like this is valued at £15 on eBay. It was found in these willow trees just above the high tide mark. It might have come over from the Isle of Wight where ‘Milk and More’ ran deliveries.
You can just see a brand new mask in this photo (above) but the bottles and plastic containers were hauled out of bramble bushes a few feet from the sea where they have languished for years.
Here is a photo of the same footpath with more plastic bottles that have blown in, together with old glass bottles the earth seems to be spitting out. The message inside them is clear: this has to stop.
I found a Wellington boot, washed up or discarded, which must have been around for some time. It had a field-mouse living inside so, I left it for now, but there is plenty more like it.
This Walker’s Crips packet, found recently, is 24 years old. I have quite a collection.
Plastic is amazing stuff. My father manufactured products made from PVC. He said that back in the 1970s, his company never considered what would happen when the items they made reached the end of their useful lives.
Found on the Solent
What date did the squarish plastic milk bottles come in? How many are disposed of daily in the UK alone? How many are recycled? How long does it take for them to decompose? They tend to flake.
How long does it take for a Tescos ‘bag for life’ to deteriorate? I often find them in the Solent.
Fishing line undoubtedly lasts a long time. It can be difficult to spot.
I often find individual plastic pegs. Why is this? Do they fall off boats?
The Wombles of Hambleton have made up a list of how to age vintage litter:
* cans with an old style ring pull – the new style was used from 1989
* cans that pre-date the bar code (approx 1970s) are measured in fl oz
* older style names, disused names or products eg: Marathon
* pre-decimal prices – dated before 1971
* glass bottles before the switch to plastic eg: older Lucozade glass bottles
* look for competitions advertised on the packaging, which are dated
* products advertising sporting events eg: Mexico World Cup Coca Cola
What is this flotsam doing to the planet? Could you help clear it up? Would you join The Great British Spring Clean with the charity Keep Britain Tidy in May?
‘I didn’t see any rubbish on the beach,’ I was told by a walker as I extracted plastic bottles and tins from the ditch leading down to it. I was glad. I’d cleaned it just before New Year.
Once by the sea I found a Christmas tree and collected half a bucketful of small pieces of PVC rope and elderly plastic that had been washed up on the shore.
Since this is an isolated beach, it shows how much plastic is floating around the Solent. Someone might like their plumb line returned.
While a few things are clearly dropped by mistake,
the amount of litter and ageing plastic on public beaches remains unacceptable. I cannot walk by without collecting it.
It takes a good hour to fill each of these buckets, which contain bags of dog poo and dangerous broken glass. They can end up weighing 4Kgs each.
What are helium balloons doing to the environment? I find one a day.
‘There’s no rubbish on the beach,’ I’m assured by walkers, the next week. I agree that it looks okay. It should be fine. I’ve cleared it a hundred times.
But, almost immediately, I find bottle ring and other items dangerous to wildlife. Then I come across fishing line, the fish hooks bound up in weed.
By the time I reach the end of the beach, I have filled my bucket, finding evidence of nitrous oxide canisters chucked into fires. The ghost rope alone could have caused havoc to shipping.
About this much plastic and glass washes up on a half-mile stretch of the Solent every twenty-four hours. It is not always easy to see it, but it’s there.
‘There is no litter,’ I’m told on approaching the foreshore with my dog-walking neighbour. We keep looking anyway. My friend spots this:
Before long, I had a filled my bucket. Again. Perhaps it’s only when you begin litter picking yourself that you appreciate how bad the problem is. Do join us!
And yet, we didn’t retrieve everything. Can you see what I see?
‘The Girl Who Got out of Zanzibar’ originally won a place on Eyelands’ Three Rock Writer’s Residency in Crete in September 2019, where Sophie worked on the first 20,000 words. It went on to win third prize in the Association of Christian Writers’ novel competition 2020, when the judge, Tony Collins, described it as: ‘a treat: full of atmosphere, detail, vivid characters, and a love for the island and its culture. I liked the fact that the narrator is a young black girl, which I find refreshing, and the relish with which the food was described is delightful. The underlying theme of FGM (and its place in a patriarchal society, the practice perpetuated by grandmothers) is a dark thread, well sustained, which both horrifies and compels.’
The sequel ‘The Man Who Got Out of Japan’ won the Eyelands Book Award for an unpublished historical novel in 2019. An awards ceremony in Athens is planned for April 2021.
Did this sachet float from China to the Solent or was it chucked off a ship? It’s unopened. We also found an unopened and sealed jar of Nescafe Gold that had been floating around the Solent, and often pick up brand new, full cans of beer.
Forlorn channel markers can be heavy to shift. I had to ask what this grey gadget, below, was. It’s a compass guard. Anyone missing one?
Ancient plastic bottles often wash up on a beach. We dated the Paragon bleach as being made in 1959 but are not sure about the Fairy Liquid.
I fear this is evidence that open pen-knifes get flung from moving vehicles.
This quivering load of extra-large incontinence pads was chucked in the nature reserve, which un-nerved me. It was incredibly heavy. I found something so unspeakable nearby I could not take a photo of it. A whole shipping container of adult nappies washed up on the south cast recently. They are heavy to move.
This cash of antique Kilner jars was dug out of mud on the Solent. There is no wave action here, so the broken glass must have been posing a danger to paddling children, dogs, New Forest ponies and wildlife for decades.
I found a huge rusty gas canister on the Solent shore that looked so like a UXB that we reported it to the police. They told me WWII bombs still need to be detonated every three months or so. It was near where I have found intact fluorescent light bulbs washed up on two separate occasions. I’ve kept them as exhibits. They must have been flung off ships.
We often find crisp packets or drink cans that are more than thirty years old. This tin left in a nature reserve must once have contained UHT milk.
I come across a lot of old milk bottles. This one had converted into a nice, dry home by a mouse. I left it in situ.
This 25 litre barrel washed up on the shore, that once held bleach, had been gnawed by foxes.
What was eating this ancient plastic bottle? A mouse? How old is the design? 1990 or earlier. Thirty-five years?
Why do people knot plastic wrappers before throwing them out of their vehicle? I think it’s weird. Most packets, wrappers or cans once clad tobacco, sugary sweets or drinks that are bad for the health. Rubbish from drug use or cannabis farms is common. I find bongs, and endless nitrous oxide canisters, which surely should be banned.
These rather nice reading glasses were inside a stolen handbag chucked in the river. Sadly, I’ve found stolen iPhones, laptops, jewellry boxes and makeup bags.
Old traffic cones, signs and car parts are often found on verges or in the estuary. I use the purple bucket to collect broken glass.
I often come across half-full glasses or bottles of alcohol, presumably left as soon as the taxi arrives. I take them to the nearest pub but they don’t always want them back.
There are bonuses to litter-picking. Sometimes you find money. I was thrilled to come across the mudguard from my husband’s car that had fallen off. It would have been almost impossible to replace.
I find loads of hats, gloves, socks, tee-shirts and shoes. They are seldom claimed.
I wash and give away the caps but underwear goes straight into landfill.
Apart from the Chinese sachet of Cremora, one plastic box from the Clyde and another from Plymouth, the item that I’ve found that must have travelled the furthest is this fishing crate that had floated 400kms from its original harbour in France.
This was printed on the other side:
To see examples of elderly rubbish found by the sea, please click here
For a list of items I’ve found on Solent beach cleans, please click here
Do add descriptions of weird items you’ve found in the comments below. Fellow litter-pickers report bathtubs, credit card machines and an urn of ashes that was returned to the local undertaker.
Meanwhile, I’m putting together a post on the most beautiful things I’ve found while litter picking.
The 1974 adaptation of Arthur Ransome’s iconic book ‘Swallows and Amazons’ starring Virginia McKenna was screened on BBC Two on Friday 17th April at 3.00pm and was available on BBC iPlayer for 30 days here
Please add any questions about how the movie was made to the Comments below.
For the latest edition of the paperback on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons(1974)’ with details of the film locations and what those who appeared in it are doing now, Please click here
You can read the first section for free in the ebook, entitled ‘The secrets of filming Swallows & Amazons (1974)’ This is similar to the paperback but has a few more stories for adult readers and links to behind-the-scenes cine footage. It can be downloaded from iBooks, iTunes, Smashwords,Kobo and Amazon Kindle
For homeschooling ideas, why not get hold of a copy of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in French or enter Into Film’s movie review writing contests? Read more here.
It would be lovely to hear from anyone who saw it in the cinema when it first came out in cinemas in the summer of 1974 – more than forty-five years ago.
I’m often ask what are the most extraordinary things I’ve found on a beach clean. This year, I came across a crate washed up on Solent shores that originated in Brittany, nearly 400 kilometres across the English Chanel.
My bucket fills with lost toys and discarded litter as I clear plastic debris brought in on the tide. There is often a piece of Lego and nearly always an old cigarette lighter. How do they get into the sea?
Plastic and PVC string gets entangled in oak trees brought down in the storms.
But, perhaps the strangest things are three unbroken fluorescent light bulbs washed up in the same place at different times.
There is always plenty to collect from tidal margins including a fair bit of rope. Most pieces are tiny. Plastic gardening waste is common.
Some of it defeats me. I couldn’t shift this marker buoy. It is difficult to imagine how it will ever be removed from such a remote spot with no vehicle access.
British mud flats, so important for wildfowl, constitute one of our last wildernesses. I long to check the whole area but birds will be breeding on the low lying islands soon.
Instead, I go inland, clearing plastic bottles and wrappers that have blown off the Solent into coastal fields where they risk being a hazard to livestock. I often find pieces of plastic that have passed through the guts of New Forest ponies. Some items have obviously been dumped by overloaded hikers such as this brand new camping gear.
Meanwhile, the Lymington river estuary seems to be regarded as a litter bin by someone who drinks Tazoo everyday. I collect what I can from the banks before the rubbish attracts even more.
The nearest McDonalds is a 25 minute drive away and yet countless people wait until they reach the bridge before tossing their cups into the tidal river. Why do they do this?
I didn’t clear nearly enough. The road flooded taking all the litter chucked onto the verge into the sea.
The shore I usually clean-up was not too bad after the storms but this is because others have begun to clear up debris.
After storm Ciara I found three old cigarette lighters at once along with other indicators of how bad things are. I learnt that one person had found 105 old lighters up on the Mersey. For a list of things found while beach cleaning in 2019, please click here.
Sophie Neville in Portugal on the 150th beach/river clean of 2019
Wednesday 1st January 2020
“Hello Sophie,” a passing driver called out. “Are you still collecting plastic?”
“My first beach clean of the year!”
I managed 150 beach or riverside litter collections last year. My aim is to make it 200 for 2020. As someone wrote to ask why I stopped my last‘Diary of a lone litter-picker’ back in April, I thought I’d start it up again. It may not be that consistent but I am fuelled by rage. The first thing I picked up toady was a deflated helium balloon found on the road to the Solent shore. Isn’t helium a finite resource? Don’t we need it for medical procedures?
I came across two ‘disposable’ barbecues lying abandoned on the beach.
“Do you think someone will return for these?” I asked the only other person about on New Year’s Day.
“Doubt it.”
I added the aluminium trays to the purple bucket I use to collect litter. Only one drinks can graced it’s depths today but I stopped repeatedly to pick up cotton bud stalks along with small pieces of PVC fishing twine and red, white or blue micro- plastics washed up by winter tides.
A runner ran past. Will all this bending keep me fit, I wonder. There was a little polystyrene and four boxes of fireworks left beside the municipal bin.
It was a mild but misty morning. I walked along with my dog listening to cries of seabirds. How many of them have plastic in their gullets?
On returning home, I looked up the Marine Conservation Society and see from their 2019 report that they have a number of different classifications for items such as ‘Sewage related debris’. They need more data to campaign and change Government policies. I decide to join.
Thursday 2nd January
It was windy with rain threatening, so I decided to take my dog down a lane running alongside the river marking the boundary of the Lymington Reedbeds Nature Reserve in the New forest National Park. This is just above the high tide level and prone to flooding. I cleaned the area two months ago. In about 500 yards I collected:
3 x glass booze bottles, 3 x booze cans, 3 x drink cans, 7 x plastic drinks bottles, 5 x cigarette packets and 30 x crisp/sweet wrappers. This weighed 3kgs. Apart from one sandwich the contents of the packaging could not be described as health-giving.
I had to leave a discarded boiler, a rusting wheelbarrow, a length of soggy carpet and a number of bottles lying out of my reach. This fly-tipping has languished in the ditches here for sometime but I need to commandeer help and a suitable vehicle.
Friday 3rd January
A lovely sunny day when I cleared litter from the rest of the lane running along the river. What do people expect will happen to the cans and plastic flung into the reserve? One tin was dated 2011. Four of the wrappers had been neatly knotted before being chucked in the ditch. From the evidence collected, I strongly suspect their owner to be drink-driving on his or her way to work every day.
Sadly, I will need to return with a long-poled grabber for plastic bottles chucked deep into the brambles. I need a vehicle to collect a large car part, a plastic tub and a number of ‘Bags for Life’ stuffed with litter lying abandoned near the footpath to the pub. It could be worse. I found nine different items of stolen property along this lane last year – iPhones, lap tops, two empty jewellery boxes and a handbag in which a mouse had made its nest.
It was my friend’s birthday, so I took her a card, walking along the estuary with a bucket to collect the inevitable litter. What should I do with parts that have obviously fallen off cars? I hung one up in case its grateful owner comes along along. I also hung a soggy sweatshirt from the railing, although I doubt if it will be claimed.
I was down by the water, fishing out plastic bottles when a car passed belching clouds of choking white smoke. After extracting an old carry-mat from the reeds I found two puzzled men looking under the bonnet of their car. Their glamorous passenger stood shivering by the estuary. I pointed them in the direction of the local garage but feel I should have left the mat in case they needed it.
Saturday 4th January
In an effort to record data, I sort yesterday’s litter into re-cyling bags full of tins and plastic bottles. Glass bottles go in an outside sink for washing, wrappers into my domestic rubbish bags. They should go into Council litter bins or litter bags.
I returned to the Solent and began collecting plastic deposited by winter tides. When I first moved to this area fifteen years ago, the foreshore was multi-coloured with debris. The coast now looks clean at first glance but I picked up about 200 tiny pieces of fishing twine and micro-plastics in a few hundred yards. There were quite a few spent shot-gun cartridges left by wild-fowlers. I found a baby’s dummy and a used cigarette lighter. There is often one. New Forest ponies roam here and yet I have retrieved buckets of broken glass in the past and find a jagged bottle base that could easily lame a horse. It has obviously been there for years.
Sunday 5th January
A stereo speaker was washed up on the shore this afternoon. I wouldn’t want to hit one at sea. I spied a Corona bottle, the bobbly ‘every bubble’s passed its FIZZical!’ type that we yearned for as children in the 1960s. How old would it be? 50 years-old? Could I still redeem the deposit? Hopefully soon.
Monday 6th January
I walked back from town, unable to pass litter lying on the causeway over the Lymington River. I had no bucket with me but where there is rubbish there is usually something you can use as a container. I found a broken umbrella, filling its folds with plastic cup lids, bottle tops, and assorted trash including a Pepsi Cola tin that would have otherwise rolled into the tidal river.
Tuesday 7th January
I should have rushed out early when we had two minutes of sunshine but I was distracted and the rain set in. Instead, I read through litter-picking posts on Facebook, absorbing information on bottle return schemes and the call for an end to single use plastics. I reckon we need to support anyone who is doing anything before the world is swamped in rubbish and the food chain poisoned. Do let me know what you are doing in the comments box below.
For a list of things found on Solent Beachcleans last year, please click here
Almost every day I go litter picking it proves to be an adventure. Truly. I find lost things, usually gloves or vehicle parts but treasures too. I return what I can to the rightful owners using the local community Facebook page – within reason.
I have found:
A selection of balls – lots of tennis balls
A shuttlecock
A horseshoe
One half-chap
Unused cable ties
A marine pump accepted by grateful boat owner
The guard for a yacht’s compass:
~I had to ask what this item was. It is unbroken~
Amusing children’s toy that flashes and bounces
2 x bags that once held camping equipment
A picnic chair folded into a sleeve
A brand new ‘disposable barbecue’
Pair of secuteers, rather blunt – so possibly chucked
Brand new tube of Ibuprofen gel
Euros 15
Toy sand moving vehicles
A selection of yachting caps – most have to be thrown away but some can been redeemed. One was labelled and returned to its owner.
When is a half-used can of Jungle Formula insect repellent lost and when is it litter?
I once came across a red plastic chopping board washed up on the coast. Lost or discarded?
I’m sure you will have seen abandoned pub glasses, left behind when the taxi arrives. I could equip my kitchen if I didn’t return them to nearby pubs. How many are taken outside and left for others to gather?
~Stolen, abandoned or both? This was returned to the nearest pub~
And then there is the manna:
2 x unopened bars of chocolate
Huge quantity of potatoes that fell off a lorry that drove past while I was wondering what to cook for supper
2 new unopened cans of larger
Total of 5 x unopened and brand new bottles of larger
A large bottle of Dutch beer. Litter might prove my salvation.
~A mouse’s nest made in an old milk bottle. I left it alone~
But what of the risks?
How many people are injured or killed by litter?
I spent twelve years living in southern Africa. We noticed that mosquitoes breed in stagnant water found in old car tyres and drink cans. If we removed the litter from an area the mosquito population dropped overnight, often to zero. Malaria is one of the biggest killers in the world. It was once prevalent in the UK. We need to stop litter and control rubbish worldwide to reduce the spread of this disease alone. To read a litter about recycling accomplished by Environment Club members in a corner of rural South Africa, please click here.
~Broken bottle found where New Forest ponies graze~
~Tavistock Festival – from the original painting by Celia Duncan~
The Tavistock Music and Arts Festival is in full swing. Do take a look through the brochure and take part in some of the events on offer, especially if you are planning to visit Dartmoor over the next few weeks. You can find the online brochure here.
The talk and Q&A on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)’ went down well, with audiences made up of Arthur Ransome enthusiasts, those who loved both the old film and the Lake District. There were also young people interested in acting and film-making who said they had watched the DVD a number of times. One couple remembered Titty Altounyan who had lived in Coniston and was so well-loved by the people of the Lake District.
Questions included: ‘How did you get the part of Titty?’, ‘What was the most difficult scene to film?’ and ‘Where did you stay when you were filming?’ The answers, of course, can be found in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ published by The Lutterworth Press.
~Sophie Neville after opening the Tavistock Festival: photo-Helena Ancil~
The Plymouth Pipe Band heralded the beginning of the festival outside the Church of St Eustachius where the Chamber Ensemble of London played later that evening.
Christopher Kirwin, Chairman of the Festival, took me to Tavistock Library where I found a copy of ‘Swallows and Amazons’.
They had created a display of Arthur Ransome books, including a vintage copy of Robinson Crusoe, and now have ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ on their shelves.
Was he a Devon lad? I forget! After being interviewed by the Tavistock Times, I was called on to open the Festival in the portrait room at The Bedford Hotel when I met the Trustees and President, the composer Andrew Wilson. It was good to see Simon Dell, an expert on Dartmoor, who will be giving a talks and leading walks during the festival. I first met him in 2015 when visiting Lundy Island with The Arthur Ransome Society.
On Sunday 22nd April, the original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ was screened at The Wharf Cinema on the Tavistock Canal. We held a book signing directly afterwards, when festival members gathered to chat about films and film reviews, books and book reviews, along with all manner of things.
I met David Harrison, the projectionist, who told me that he first screened the movie when it came out in 1974. He worked at the Drake Cinema in Plymouth from 1967 to 2000 and is quite an expert on film with what sounded like an impressive private collection of DVDs. Dave told me I was ‘His favourite girl’ in the movie and presented me with a bunch of narcissi.
~Sophie Neville at the Wharf cinema with David Harrison~
In the foyer of The Wharf, where Virginia McKenna once gave a talk on making her iconic movie ‘Born Free’, they have new star: a glitzy otter called Rosie who was happy to pose wearing a red Amazon hat. She is one of many otters made for the Moor Otter Trail, that is becoming popular with visitors. You can read how they raised £126,000 for Dartmoor National Park here.
~Sophie Neville, Patron of the UK Wild Otter Trust: photo-Helena Ancil~
You can see pictures of the otters hand-reared by my family here
The Chairman of the Tavistock Festival, Christopher Kirwin, chatted to Belinda Dixon on BBC Radio Devon’s Sunday morning programme for about thirty minutes. You can listen to this, 1hr.26mins into the programme here:
The 4th Waterberg Trust Challenge Ride, which set off on 21st January 2018, proved fast, fun and fulfilling. Thanks go to all those who sponsored me on Justgiving.com and helped me to raise funds in other ways.
Crossing the game reserves of South Africa was a joy, especially since we encountered a number of newborn animals.
50% of funds raised go to Save The Waterberg Rhino to support the war against wildlife poaching.
Riders paid their own travel costs. We had a great team who’d worked hard on both their fitness and fundraising.
Some days were long but we were blessed with good weather. When the going got tough, we dismounted and walked.
Seven different game reserves were traversed in six days, with 187kms being clocked up on the GPS.
I felt hugely encouraged by everyone who supported me on social media and returned with dreams of exploring further afield. You can see more photos of the ride on The Waterberg Trust website.
What you can do to help
Share posts found on The Waterberg Trust’s Facebook page: please click here
