2023 Surveys
We had a small group for our second survey at Dungeness on 8th April, but identified 488 items in our 100-metre survey and removed a total of 55 kg from the environment. Traceable finds included a fender from Maine attached to a fishing tag from 2018 and a plastic sign advertising the ‘Bay of Lights’ event in Torquay last Christmas. You can see the full results below.
Scuppered by the bad weather on our first attempt, we reached Dungeness for our first survey of the year on 21st January, collecting over 1000 items from our 100 metre survey area, including some that had drifted across the Atlantic to us from North America.
Great British Beach Clean 2022
At Dungeness, we found 288 items in our survey area, weighing 5.64 kg, but removed a further 51 kg of mismanaged waste from the beach on the walk back to the car park.
We had an amazing 55 volunteers at our Pett Level survey, working with members of the New Beach Club. The 242 small items from the survey area weighed just over 1 kg, but another 16 kg of rubbished was removed from the beach.
At Glyne Gap, Bexhill, we found a shocking 735 items in our 100 m stretch, including many shards of broken glass, although the total weight was only 1.1 kg.
We have been lucky with the weather this year, but our gallant volunteers braved the constant rain for a very wet survey at Rock-a-Nore, Hastings. Over 500 items were found, weighing over 11 kg.
At Galley Hill, Bexhill, we found 336 small items, weighing 1.67 kg. Dog poo seems a problem here, with 10 bags full picked up in our 100 m stretch to protect our volunteers. A further 5 kg of rubbish was picked up from the beach after the survey.
We had another beautiful day for our Winchelsea Beach survey, collecting 383 items from the survey area, weighing 2.67 kg and removed a further 15 kg of rubbish.
At Rye Harbour we worked with a team of volunteers from the reserve. We collected 178 items from our survey area, weighing 1 kg, but removed a further 4.5 kg of rubbish from the beach. An interesting wildlife find was these cuttlefish eggs (long dried up) attached to part of an old fishing net. Wildlife will use what is available to live, unaware of any potential issues.
Other MCS events in 2022
In our June survey at Dungeness we found many items, natural and man-made, covered in sting winkle egg cases. We collected almost 400 items from our 100m survey area, weighing 51kg, and collected a further 33 kg of rubbish on the way back.
In April we battled a chilly wind at Dungeness to collect 733 pieces from our survey area, weighing nearly 27 kg. Over 90% of this was plastic. We collected a further 50 kg of mismanaged waste on the way back to the car park!
Our final Clean Seas Please event was held by the De La Warr in March, where we collected 241 items, 63% of which were plastic. You can see the results below.
At Galley Hill in February, another Clean Seas Please event, we collected 283 items, 82% of which were plastic. You can read the report below.
In January 2022 we were at Beaulieu, where we collected 380 items, 92% of which were plastic. This was a Clean Seas Please event. A new item being found on our beaches is pieces of Covid testing kit. You can read the report below.
Great British Beach Clean 2021
This is a wonderful beach to survey, as the absence of beach visitors gives a more prelatic picture of what is washed or blown in. We identified and removed 325 items from our 100m stretch, weighing 12kg. You can read the full report below.
This was a Clean Seas Please event. Our 21 volunteers found 520 pieces of manmade pollution in our 100m stretch, lost accidentally or deliberately by human intervention! The full results can be seen below.
31 volunteers found 228 pieces in our 100m stretch. 59% of this was plastic, a relatively low percentage, following the trend of beach visitors picking up larger pieces such as plastic bottles. You can find the full results below.
30 volunteers joined in. In our 100 m, we found 265 pieces, 65% of which were plastic. We also found 35 pieces of tissue paper, the highest recorded item. You can see all the results below.
This was also a Clean Seas Please event.
Our 20+ volunteers found, picked up, sorted, identified and recorded 295 items in our 100m survey area, 69% of which were plastic.
The shocking ‘highlight’ was 20 separate dog poos from just this small stretch!
Dog owners beware – some of these showed ingested plastic – do be aware of what your dog is picking up! You can see the full results below.
Cleaner Rivers, Cleaner Seas 