Spring Clean Take 2: April Volunteer Day
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As I arrived on site the heavens opened, ‘another wet beach clean’ I thought. I was wrong.
By 11am the sun pushed through as volunteers started to arrive. We were all soon removing all the waterproof layers as it turned into a glorious day.
We concentrated on the sandy straight of the Bay of Stoer shoreline between the rocky outcrops; Clachtoll Broch to the left and Stac Fada to the right. The beach started off quite colourful with small pieces of rope, plastic, twine and fishing line. By the end of the event we had removed 18.5 Kilos of rubbish from the beach! A fantastic amount.
We all retired to the bench for well-deserved rest and biscuits when a few divers caught our eye. We scurried to get binoculars and scopes out and found that the bay was in fact full of diving birds of all types. To top it off a pair of White-Tailed Eagles flew over, being mobbed by a Raven and a Hooded Crow. A list of all the species seen in the bay are listed below.
Thank you to all who came along, an amazing effort by all. Our next meeting will be on the 23rd May.
Before:
After:
Here is a species list of all we saw after the beach clean:
- Black Guillemot
- Black Headed Gull
- Common Tern
- Cormorant
- Cuckoo (heard)
- Fulmar
- Gannet
- Great Northern Diver
- Greenfinch
- Greylag Geese
- Guillemot
- Hooded Crow
- Lesser Black Backed Gull
- Linnet
- Meadow Pipit
- Oystercatchers
- Porpoise
- Raven
- Razorbill
- Redpoll
- Red Throated Dover
- Ringed Plover
- Sanderling
- Shag
- Wagtail
- Wheatear
- White Tailed Eagle pair
- 4 catfish egg cases (species to be confirmed)
- 1 skate case (species to be confirmed)
