Last weekend was no ordinary weekend as it was the Great
British Beach Clean Event organised by the Marine Conservation Society. This annual
nationwide event is a beach cleaning and litter surveying programme. Marine
wildlife is increasingly under threat from the waste and litter in our seas,
with hundreds of species accidentally eating or becoming entangled in litter.
Last year 5,349 volunteers found 2,457 pieces of litter on 301 British beaches.
The data collected is used by MCS to campaign for a marine litter strategy.
Last Friday Holkham played its part with 15 volunteers from
Aviva kindly lending their time away from the office to take part in removing
litter from our beautiful beach. The day was a great success! Everyone had fun,
no bombs were found (this time), the sun shone and we recovered 35 bin bags
full of litter from the beach, as well as other large items including fishing
nets, buoys and bits of boat.
The most shocking discovery however was the amount of beer
cans, bottle tops and other party paraphernalia found in the dunes. While we
love the fact that people travel to Holkham to enjoy the sun, sea and sand it
is disappointing to see such a huge amount of dangerous litter being left.
If you are interested in joining us for future litter picks
or helping us on the reserve then take a look at our volunteer days HERE