13th November

It is Sunday so we can squeeze through the barricades and, for once, walk the length of the beach. The bags continue to multiply and a portaloo stands like a tardis in their midst.

It's sunny and unseasonably warm (shorts weather for some) and there is a huge harvest of seaweed and plastic with balloons (McDonalds as usual), bottles, boots and turtles tangled in the the shiny fronds - and even a plant pot with its own harvest of sea plants. More paraffin wax too... and three Pot Noodles.

The anglers have been here also, leaving their packs of frozen calamari and pre-packed squid.

The Fa Ocean Dive Active shower gel - vitalising with plant extracts - looks tantalising nestling on the weed.

There are a lots of foreign language packs - including 4 tubs or lids of margarine and a large catering size pack of Ariel. The main languages that wash up are Dutch and French, perhaps not surprising given that Holland, Belgium and France are our nearest North Sea neighbours. Washing powder, dried parsley, shampoo and margarine certainly aren't beach visitors' normal picnic fare - so is this stuff washing down the big European rivers or being flung off ships??

On the way back I found a Smartie top (treasure to me) sitting amongst the weed.

high tide: 12.07 hrs 2.7m; low tide 17.51 hrs 0.7m

time of arrival: 12.48 hrs

weather: sunny, wind E 10mph, temperature 14c
marine litter: many plastic pieces, some quite large; 8 balloons mostly with strings, a lump of paraffin wax.

11th November

 A flying visit to the south of the barricades to see what is happening but all the action is north towards the ness.The seas are quite wild and have thrown a lot of plastic onto the shore so, though no time to stop long, it doesn't take long to collect a bag of rubbish. A lot of plastic bottles and containers this time - including from France and Holland, probably recent discards off ships.
Still the seaweed...

low tide:

time of arrival: 11.54 hrs

weather: cloudy, wind SE 15mph (est), temperature 10c
marine litter: bottles, containers.

 

2nd November

A sunny day with lively seas. An industrial-scale operation is being undertaken beyond the barricades and the bags are multiplying, lying in formation beneath cliff.
It is low tide and a large heap of sand is piled up just by the water - has this been imported for filling the bags or has it been collected at the site? Will it be used before the tide washes back up the beach??
There are signs of a fresh earth fall from the cliffs north of the works.
An unusual amount of seaweed remains at the high water mark.

The Coke can washed up with the weed (an all too frequent sight sadly) reminds me of the often forgotten global benefits of an Enviro-marketing TM approach to brand marketing... Once washed up, never forgotten.

Among the items I collect is an ancient Eden Vale tub and a 'Fleet Foot' rubber sandal, made in Canada. An internet search turns up the ads below. Fleet Foot was a brand of Dominion Rubber. The rubber shoes were manufactured from 1911 at St Jerome, Quebec, forty miles north of Montreal. In their heyday in the 1950s, 37000 rubber shoes were produced all over the world.  The newspaper ad is from the Montreal Gazette, June 11th, 1924! I would love to know the age and history of my new old sandal...

low tide: 09.21 hrs 0.6m; high tide 16.18 hrs 2.6m

time of arrival: 10.07 hrs

weather: sunny, wind SE 21mph, temperature 14c
marine litter: mostly larger pieces and heavier plastics; a headless teddy bear, three sanitary towels and, unusually, no identifiable foreign packing.