January 2024

January 2024 Events & News
 We wish all our readers a positive 2024.

Contents

Future events: Winter Walk, Love our Rother
Could you help lead a MCS beach clean and survey?
What to look for in January: Transatlantic items
Have you won a sea bean?
Past events: Dungeness
Social media presence
Membership of Strandliners

Future Events

Members’ Winter Walk
Saturday 20th January, 10 am 
This will be a moderately hard walk of around 7.5 km, from Fairlight down the cliff to the beach and along to Pett Level. Along the way we hope to see some seals and discover dinosaur footprints! We are allowing up to four hours to complete the walk. Places are limited, so members will have priority. Please register here if you would like to join us.

Love our Rother
Saturday 17th February, 10 am to 2 pm
Our theme for 2024 is From Pollution to Solution.
The event will focus on ways to reduce plastic, reduce consumption, reuse and repair, with stands and activities from groups such as men’s sheds, refill shops, community gardens and composting, swap shops alternative transport and buying local. If you can help on the day, please let us know. We will do a pick before the event so we have rubbish to survey on the day. Watch this space for further details…

Could you lead a Marine Conservation Society survey?

We are looking for volunteers to lead or help lead a beach survey for the Marine Conservation Society, particularly during the Great British Beach Clean in September. You won’t be left to do everything on your own, but will be given full training and support from Strandliners. Please email if this is something you might be interested in doing. 

What to look for in January

Each month we will be asking you to look out for particular items on your local beach or river bank. This month we are asking you to look for transatlantic items such as lobster and crab tags, fishing licences, bait pots and escape vents (see the image above). Winter storms bring these across the Atlantic, where they can wash up on our shores much later. Any writing still legible may tell you where the item has come from. You might even find a fisherman’s phone number! Find out more on our marine debris identification leaflet.

Have you won a sea bean?

Please check your email. Each month we draw a member at random to win a sea bean.
Winners are notified by email, but we still have several unclaimed prizes. Do check your junk/spam, as emails may sometimes go there. We would love to give you your sea bean!

Past Events

MCS Survey, Dungeness
What a great group we had with us for a rather windy Dungeness event in December. We identified and recorded an incredible 877 items from our 100-metre survey area, weighing 32.77 kg, and removed a further 101.21 kg of rubbish on the way back to the car park! Thank you to all our volunteers. You are amazing.

Social Media Presence

We appreciate your support through subscribing to this newsletter, please share with friends and family. Another way to help Strandliners reach a greater audience is through our social media presence. We are notoriously slow at keeping up with social media, but if all subscribers were able to support through following us and liking, sharing and/or reposting, it would really helpful in boosting our presence. 

Facebook – Strandliners
Instagram – Strandliners
X/Twitter – @StrandlinersCIC

Membership of Strandliners

Benefits of becoming a member include a quarterly online magazine, The Fulmar, a monthly raffle to win a sea heart, and opportunities to join beach, marine & citizen science workshops.