October 2023 Events & News
Welcome to the October 2023 newsletter
Events – Camber Sands Welcome Centre workshops,Microplastic survey
Have your say – your voice is important
Young Strandliners – deadly invaders!
CAT course – revised and updated for 2023
Past Events
Great British Beach Clean
Unfortunately, the Bexhill event had to be cancelled due to the stormy weather.
Data can be analysed in many different ways. The more information we have and know about the beaches the easier it is to understand these differences.
Young Strandliners
At our last event, a Young Strandliners member found a stranded Portuguese man o’war. These can still sting even when they are dead. You can read Xavier’s report in Rye News here. There has also been a recent report in the BBC News.Our next session will be Saturday 21st October at 10am.
Click here for more details about young Strandliners.
News and Views
Your voice is important
Please click here
We would love to know how you see the present position of Strandliners and how you would like us to develop. How would you like to be involved? There are many ways to support Strandliners.
We are open to all suggestions, and these can be anonymous, so please don’t be frightened to say what you feel. All ideas will be considered, and even if they are not achievable right now, they may direct our future growth and development. We have put together a short survey and would love as many people as possible to take part. Apologies if the link in the last newsletter was not working correctly.
River Tillingham, East Sussex
Residents were dismayed to see the River Tillingham turn blue/grey recently, with a foul smell and dead fish floating on the surface. It transpires that the incident was due to a water level management issue. Some fish were affected and died, but most would have swum upstream to clear water. Once the effect was seen, levels were readjusted to correct the situation. Interestingly, we received a press cutting from one of our members, dated 1982, which cited a similar incident on the Tillingham, resulting in hundreds of fish deaths. Water held back and becoming stagnant while work was taking place on the sluice was said to be the cause. Look out for news about a project in the River Rother catchment soon.
How Coke killed the refillable bottle
Coca-Cola once used stylish refillable glass bottles that were washed and reused dozens of times, leaving no pollution: people returned them to get their deposit back. According to The Story of Stuff, Coke now produces a quarter of a million plastic bottles every minute, harming communities and the ecosystems where these bottles inevitably end up. You can watch their short documentary here.
CAT 23 Course
Strandliners is pleased to announce the start of a brand new CAT course, revised and updated for 2023.
Are you concerned about environmental pollution? Why not join a growing community learning to monitor our coastal waters and inland waterways? The course will be two x 2-hour classroom sessions plus a practical session/survey. The classroom sessions will include topics such as:Sources & identification of important plastic pollutionLinks between plastic pollution & climate changeRecording and how it can lead to changeDifferent types of surveysWhere does recycling fit in?Introduction to river water analysisThe course will take place in Rye, with classroom sessions on:
Saturday 21st October 2.30 to 4.30 pm and
Saturday 28th October 2.30 to 4.30 pm.
Practical sessions can be one or more of the following:Great Nurdle Hunt at Camber Sands (Fri 27th Oct @ 2.30 pm)River Rother Brand Audit (Weds 25th Oct @ 2pm, Sat 11th Nov @ 2pm, Sun 12th Nov @ 2pm)Dungeness Marine Conservation Society marine litter survey (date in Dec to be confirmed)If you are interested in registering for the course or finding out more, please email.
Do you live in Camber?
You are invited to join an event on Monday 23rd October, 11am to 4pm.
Run by the architects working on the new Welcome Centre at Camber, the event aims to engage the local community and will include various workshops and activities including a beach clean and survey. Strandliners and Rother Voluntary Action will be there.
You can sign up through Eventbrite here.
Microplastic Survey
Camber Sands Friday 27th October 2.30 pm (register here to take part)
The Great Nurdle Hunt is a citizen science project that takes place each October. Microplastics can be mistaken for food by marine wildlife and pose a threat to wildlife and habitats. We lead regular microplastic surveys at Camber and submit our findings to Fidra. Treasure has been found at these events!
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 not amazing at keeping up with letting everyone know what we do but if all subscribers were able to support through “liking”, “sharing” and/or reposting it would really helpful!
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.