Raffin: Part Three

August’s monthly volunteer day took place last week, a joint effort with the John Muir Trust Volunteers. The aim: to tackle the next bay south from Raffin. Unfortunately, it was a little walk in from an available car parking place, but this didn’t deter the JMTers, and off they went to search for the next lot of marine waste to take off the beach. The weather was damp to say the least, but we were all wrapped up in waterproofs and, as I am sure you will agree, they did a stellar effort in retrieving the washed in rubbish.

As always, alongside collecting the litter we are looking out for washed in birds or sea creatures but also the mermaid’s purses! Last time we found 4 in total, 2 large Flapper Skate cases and 2 Catfish cases. This time 4 again but 3 Flapper Skate cases and 1 Catfish. Recordings of these get reported to Assynt Field Club. As far as I understand the Flapper Skate cases have only been found along the Raffin coast within CALL.

Once we had collected as much as we could take away, the next task was to get it back to the van! I cannot do justice with words the determination of these guys. They were amazing! No time for breaks, let’s get this done!

After the official weigh in by Laura, our Assistant Scheme Manager, and one of the JMT volunteers, the total amount collected was 276kg!! Most of what we collected was rope/ twine or plastic in 37 (reusable) bags plus larger items strapped together. A record breaking clean up at Raffin!

I cannot thank the JMT volunteers enough for their efforts with me on Thursday and with other members of the team and partnership over the week. Hope we get to see you again soon!