Beach Clean

 Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has had an enjoyable festive period and is ready to tackle the New Year with vigour and gusto. It has been a busy start to 2022 and thankfully we have been blessed with glorious wall to wall sunshine throughout much of January making it feel very spring like at times. 

Last week, the cattle, who have been munching their way through much of the rank grasses across the Links since October, left the island. They have done a fantastic job and we should see the effects of their work in spring when the botanically rich dunes burst into flower. The sheep, who have been doing a similar job in the Snook, left a few days later. They have been also tackling some of the invasives such as Michaelmas Daisy. 

Cows gathered ready to be taken off the island

We also had our first event of the year yesterday - a beach clean on North Shore and luckily the weather gods were on our side. Sixteen volunteers and members of the public joined us on a beautiful winter's morning to scour the shore for litter. A lot of litter, tyres and fishing gear has washed up in the winter storms, particularly in the wake of Storm Arwen; leaving plenty for people to get their teeth stuck into. The large amounts of rubbish that washes up on the shore is only a fraction of what is floating out there. Small bits of plastic can be mistaken for food and rope and monofilament fishing line can be sources of entanglement for shorebirds and marine life.

Volunteers amongst a pile of rubbish on the North Shore

Thank you to everyone that came out to lend a hand. Keep your eyes peeled on our social media channels for more information about upcoming events.