Silent boogie wonderland on the beach with Wild Coast Sussex

admin
, 10 November 2023
Silent boogie wonderland on the beach with Wild Coast Sussex
Silent disco beach clean © Sophia Pinheiro Vergara

Ruby Stothard

Wild Coast Sussex Volunteer

Litter on our beaches poses a huge threat to our local marine wildlife. To help tackle this, Wild Coast Sussex have offered a fun, hands-on way for young people to engage with protecting our seas through a series of silent disco beach cleans. I got involved because of this incentive over the summer months and met some passionate, budding marine conservationists across East Sussex.

Ella Garrud and Sophie Atkinson © Sophie Maplesden
Ella Garrud and Sophie Atkinson © Sophie Maplesden

On a sunny afternoon in Hove, we boogied along the strandline to disco tunes, armed with gloves and litter pickers. The group found plenty of bottle caps, fishing line and microplastics. Thanks to the Great British Beach Clean week, some areas were cleaner than others, but this didn’t stop the fun as we learned how to identify the different mermaid’s purses (shark and skate eggcases) that had washed up on the shore! Undulate Rays and Small-Spotted Catsharks were among the eggcases we found, and for many participants this was a new learning experience, with the post-clean survey results stating ‘finding mermaid’s purses’ and ‘learning mermaid purse facts’ as something they have done for the first time at the event! We also identified cuttlefish bones and stacks of slipper limpets, giving the participants a greater knowledge of their local marine wildlife: ‘I’ve lived here my whole life but have never known what these are!” It was wonderful to see everyone’s connection to the coast deepening.

Mermaids purse © Sarah Ward
Mermaids purse © Sarah Ward

On a blustery day at Seven Sisters, young people taking part in the Wild Coast Weekend danced along to another silent disco beach clean, collecting a mighty amount of litter. With the help of local charity Strandliners, we sorted through the litter found, learning about where the most common pollutants come from, and how to identify, sort and record beach litter on our own beach cleans.

Beach clean litter © Ruby Stothard
Beach clean litter found © Ruby Stothard

I hope this blogpost encourages more people to get boogying and beach cleaning, and you may be surprised by what you find!

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Comments

  • Barney:

    Brilliant. Love this plan. What was the playlist? You must’ve had “pick up the pieces” by 10cc surely?!

    12 Nov 2023 13:59:00

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