The Safari hasn't been on the beach for a while but today we had a clean up organised. A team from the local water company joined some of our colleagues from other offices and a couple of locals who had kindly volunteered. All that was needed was was some litter to collect - wouldn't it be brill if that many eagle-eyed volunteers weren't able to find any!
We are lucky along this stretch of beach that there isn't a bad area for litter but one item found early on brought home why this work is so important and why some items should really be removed from sale.
It looks like a Razorbill with the very dark wings, there are white secondary tips too when we pulled the wing open, no head...no rings on those rather yellowy legs either.
It would be so easy to ban the sale of these things, can't believe they haven't been the number of wildlife fatalities, farm animal casualties and fires they cause.
While we were out there on a lower strand-line we saw more bits of Edible Crab than we've seen altogether here in the last five years or so, we even managed to find a complete top carapace for our collection of mariney bits n bobs we keep to show the school groups that aren't able to get on to the beach.
We worked our way down to the start of the dunes where we saw a couple of Pied Wagtails but not the Snow Buntings which were seen by a birding group deeper in the dunes while we were on the beach...they saw six, so another bird has appeared as there were definitely only five on Sunday.
Better, for us at least, than the buntings was the Peregrine (P2 #77) that shot low over the sand flushing gulls, Feral Pigeons and Starlings as it went. Don't think we're going to get anywhere near our Patch 2 target of 90 species, no Collared Doves, no House Martins, no Skylarks, not even any of the swans - how'd that happen!
We left the beach in a rush to get to our next appointment at the local 6th Form College to deliver a presentation on local marine issues of all things to their Eco Action group! Don't think we've ever done a presentation in sand covered wellies before, never mind a marine presentation. Lots of young women in the group we didn't do a comparative head count with the boys but there appeared to be more of them - good to see but from their responses to the questions we asked most of them didn't seem to get out much to view the local wildlife.
Where to next? Back on to Patch 2 for more seawatching tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know what's floating around causing mayhem in your outback.
2 comments:
Is that one of those floating lantern things Davyman ?
We get them down here, littering the bloody countryside!
Nothing will be done about them until a few fields of wheat go up in smoke, then the all powerful farming lobby will be our side - for once!
Yes Warren it is one of those floating lantern things. Surprised the farmers haven't lobbied harder considering the amount of damage to machinery and livestock, barns etc they've caused in the last few of years.
They are a total nightmare!
Cheers
D
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