One brief storm and a significant amount of rubbish is washed up on the south coast of England.
I joined two other Litter Pickers of the New Forest to clear litter on the gravel spit to Hurst Castle in Hampshire. Rubbish gets caught in the artificial sea wall.
You have to take care not to slip on the rocks, or lose your phone between the boulders as one of us did. I ventured too near the waves and got soaking wet.
Along with wrappers, ropes and tin cans, Jill found a plastic funnel that had been in the sea for sometime.
At first glance, the beach looked clean but we found part of a long fishing rod holder and numerous small items.
While Jill picked up a golf ball, I found used lighters, a small green monster and a child’s rake.
Some of the plastic and tins defeated us. They were too deeply buried or trapped between the rocks.
It is amazing how much there is on the footpath given that the Council provides huge waste bins where we deposited our findings.
I returned on another day to collect more,
And yet more. This is a typical cashe: a plastic bottle, a pen, old polystyrene and hard, blue plastic. I often find a shoe washed up on the shore. It’s important to keep going.
Another member of our group spent an hour collecting rubbish from Hurst Castle beach on Christmas Eve. “Quite depressing that there is so much litter: mainly plastic and polystyrene. A few interesting finds like a Santa hat, mask, Lego brick, toy soldier, tennis ball….but why so many plastic coffee cups?” he asked.
He returned on 14th January with another haul. “Lots of plastic bottles, coffee cups, the ubiquitous face masks, beer cans, sweet wrappers, poo bags, fishing line, a tube of toothpaste, and much more. I think that this can be partly attributed to littoral drift, particularly on the western shore, but on the eastern shore it is probably local littering.”
Unless we persevere, the rubbish will blow into the nature reserve where a multitude of native birds and migrant waders congregate. We counted 19 swans living there.
Next time you go for a walk, wear plastic gloves and take a litter bag with you. It is surprising what you can find. If you live in the New Forest, think of joining Litter Pickers of the New Forest who can provide High Vis vests and litter pickers. They are on Facebook here
Litter Pickers of the New Forest say:
‘Thanks to everyone’s efforts, we can now report some of the impact the local litter heroes, volunteers and staff, had in 2021. Our work with our partners including the National Park Authority, Forestry England, the police, and fire and rescue, saw:
10,000 hours of patrols,
a 40% drop in fires in the New Forest
Over 50 retailers stopped selling disposable BBQs
The New Forest Code was shared with over 2.7 million people
1,000 litter picking kits created
Over 700 New Forest Ambassadors signed up
230,000 bags given out to encourage people to take litter home.
An 8% drop in litter at coastal locations despite visitor numbers being up by 60%
New signs and information across all Forest car parks.
400 social media posts
1.6 million plus newsletters to subscribers
Digital signs at key roads.
‘Thank you to everyone who has done so much to support the New Forest this year, working together, right across the community.’
Keep Britain Tidy have more information here.
Sophie Neville 