Thanks to Claire for news about this beach clean, conducted by visitors to the Island last week. In her own words. Ed
A Southern Housing residents group from Northbourne, Godalming made an extra-special contribution during a Natural Wight day-trip to the Island last week – by litter-picking the beach at beautiful Shepherd’s Chine.
Around 40 people, kids included, joined Natural Wight and the Footprint Trust to help collect an enormous 20 bags of litter from just this one stretch of the Island’s south coast.
Island inventor Dan Roberts was on hand to help children create flotsam boats from cuttlefish, seagull feathers and some of the biodegradable litter for a boat race along the Chine’s stream.
Litter from as far away as Japan
The Footprint Trust’s Ray Harrington-Vail pointed out, “Surprisingly, most of the litter on our beaches is more likely to have been washed ashore from boats at sea rather than been left by visitors – some of the litter we removed may have come from as far away as China or Japan.”
Rachel Jagger-Thomas, Project Manager explained, “Southern Housing Group’s Northbourne residents joined us for a Natural Wight day – a chance to discover the more natural side of the island not always accessible on day-trips. Chines are a unique and fascinating part of the Island environment, and so it was great to be able to give the group the opportunity to explore one of the Island’s hidden gems, literally tucked away on the South Coast. Our visitors were also keen to make an active contribution to the Island and so litter-picked their own picnic spot!”
She went on to day, “Natural Wight, run through Spectrum Medina, was awarded £96,670 through Access to Nature, a scheme run by Natural England and funded by the Big Lottery Fund. The project encourages people to enjoy Island nature, as well as learn how to look after it. Southern Housing Group have also contributed to the project so this was a real joint effort all round. We’d also like to thank Southern Co-op at Freshwater who were really helpful in donating bin bags and bottled water for the beach clean.”
