Beach Buddies volunteers have had a wonderful weekend, making a huge difference to the big tidy-up campaign which has been undertaken since the devastating storms of January and February.
Following a number of weeks of being out of action due to the severe weather, the activities by Beach Buddies in the last two weeks have made a big difference to a number of beaches around the Island.
Last week a big team of volunteers completely cleared all rubbish from Port Grenaugh, followed by another team session at The Lhen. This weekend another team transformed the beach and the roadside at Castletown Bay on Saturday, prior to another team session on Sunday at Blue Point, returning to a venue which will require several visits, judging by the huge amounts of rubbish still to be found along the north west coast.
Beach Buddies will continue to tackle all sections of the north west coast in coming weeks, in a bid to remove as much rubbish as possible, in particular smaller items, prior to the beginning of the nesting season for seabirds in April.
“Many people think that beach cleaning is simply getting rid of rubbish that others carelessly discard, but it’s actually a wildlife and environment issue,” said Beach Buddies co-ordinator Bill Dale.
“There is clear evidence that juvenile seabirds consume small items of plastic and other discarded materials which stay in their stomachs and eventually result in their deaths. It’s up to people like our volunteers to remove as much of this type of material as possible, to give these young seabirds a chance.”
To cope with the major increase in rubbish pollution on Manx beaches, Beach Buddies has now stepped up its volunteer team sessions, and will run two sessions every weekend for the foreseeable future.
In addition, individual Beach Buddies’ volunteers have been tackling beaches close to their homes, with many items, including numerous lobster pots and commercial fishing gear, being removed at Cornaa, Laxey, Spaldrick, The Lhen, Groudle, Cranstal and Ballaugh.
Bill Dale added, “This is just fantastic. Our team events are very effective, and we are getting more volunteers this year than ever before, but not everyone can make it at the weekend, so it’s brilliant to see volunteers go out on their own at other times of the week. They are doing a great job. It’s amazing what even one person can do in an hour or so.
“If anyone wants to go out on their own a clean a beach, or a glen, or a footpath then Beach Buddies would be delighted to give whatever assistance we can, including bin bags, litterpickers and gloves, and the disposal and recycling of the materials collected afterwards.”
• Next weekend, Beach Buddies will once again stage two cleaning sessions for volunteers. The first will be on Saturday, March 8th, at Derbyhaven, and the second on Sunday, March 9th, at Sartfield (Jurby).
Both sessions start at 10.30am. Beach Buddies provides all equipment and advises the wearing of warm clothing and decent walking shoes. New volunteers are always warmly welcomed.
