Great British Beach Clean

Knock Beach Clean Volunteers
Volunteers at the Knock Hatchery Beach Clean

For what we believe to be the first time ever the Great British Beach Clean came to Mull on Saturday 17th.

MOG’s very own ‘Mull Adopt-a-Beach’ took part in this important initiative by the Marine Conservation Society in order to add to the important data that it collects on marine litter.  The data is used to drive change e.g. carrier bag tax, and hopefully in the future a deposit return system for plastic bottles. It can also help identify sources of litter so that they can be tackled directly.

So with this in mind 18 or so intrepid volunteers (13 human and 5 canine!) turned up to Knock Hatchery to tackle marine litter on Mull.  The weather was good, so we felt lucky, but then things got even better – a white-tailed eagle did a close fly-past as it checked out the possibility of grabbing one of the many ducks or gulls, and then landed on a post not 50m away! Everyone was supposed to be listening to the briefing at the time, but I think it’s OK to be distracted by such spectacles.

We surveyed a 100m stretch of the shore and cleared up probably another 1000m. Well done and many thanks to all involved.  We then refreshed ourselves with a variety of snacks and tea/coffee before heading off.

A summary of the data we collected can be found here: Corran GBBC Survey Summary

Whilst the Great British Beach Clean always takes place over a weekend in September, MCS Beachwatch surveys can be done at any time, and anyone can register a beach, and start carrying out surveys for it.  More information can be found here:  MCS Beachwatch. If you do decide to become an MCS Beachwatcher please let us know!