Beach friends help care for Lizard beauty spot (From Falmouth Packet)

Beach friends help care for Lizard beauty spot

7:00am Sunday 24th February 2013 in News

If you go down to the beach today you will more than likely come across one of the recently founded ‘Friends of Poldhu’ group hard at work.

Earlier this year several dog walkers and beach lovers in the area decided to take a more proactive lead in looking after one of their much loved beauty spots.

The group of enthusiasts, along with Ross Hocking of the Poldhu Beach Café and National Trust Ranger Elle Parsons, formed Friends of Poldhu, with members now working together to protect marine wildlife and keep Poldhu clean.

The beach suffers from large volumes of marine litter brought in on the tides and stormy seas, which is not only bad for tourism but is dangerous for wildlife.

Ranger Miss Parsons said: “Sadly, what we find on the beaches is just a tiny proportion of the marine litter that is floating in our world’s oceans.”

She added that over 100,000 marine mammals and one million seabirds died every year from ingestion and entanglement in marine litter, which could have “devastating effects” for already endangered species such as albatross that mistake small pieces of floating plastic for fish to feed their chicks with.

Miss Parsons said: “We had a recent reminder of this just a few weeks ago when a common dolphin, which had drowned after becoming tangled in nets, was washed up at Poldhu. These findings are an upsetting reminder of how detrimental our actions can be to such magnificent and elusive mammals.”

Friends of Poldhu are recording their findings as part of a nationwide survey coordinated by the Marine Conservation Society, where the data is collated to indicate the source of pollution.

Poldhu also suffers from dog mess during the winter, when the dog ban is lifted.

Friends of Poldhu have been working with dog walkers and have now provided an extra bin on the north entrance to try and alleviate the problem.

Members are also working with the National Trust to help improve the access and aesthetics on the beach entrances.

Monthly beach cleans take place on the last Friday of every month at 11am, with the next one taking place this Friday (February 22).

All equipment is provided, plus hot drinks afterwards for all volunteers.

Alternatively people can use the beach clean dispenser situated at the main entrance at any time.

The group can be contacted by emailing friendsofpoldhu@gmail.com or through the Beach Watcher page on Facebook.