Swept clean?

As well as the coastal erosion and damage to infrastructure caused by the succession of storms and tidal surges this winter, there have been other noteworthy consequences. Anyone who has been to Welsh beaches in the last few weeks will have been struck by the huge amount of litter cast up by the sea. This isn’t just big items like plastic drums and broken fish boxes, but also huge quantities of tiny fragments of expanded polystyrene and other plastics.

In the aftermath of major oil pollution incidents years ago, work was done to model the drift of oil and other things on the sea surface. In general, figures of around 2-3% of the near surface wind speed provided a good approximation for both forecasting drift and hindcasting origins. So, while a waterlogged pallet might drift at about 3% of the wind speed, things with more windage, such as empty drinks bottles with lids, would be expected to travel rather faster. Sometimes, where the origins of objects are known, the speed of travel to reach our shores from distant places can seem quite surprising. An example of this from a few years ago was when identifiable parts of a catamaran, which broke up in a storm off Cape Finisterre in NW Spain, reached an Anglesey beach in 110 days.

Seeing the amounts of debris and particularly the fine fragments of broken up plastic on some Welsh beaches facing the SW wind or where the tidal surges have swept debris up inlets, one is reminded of the poetic musings of the Walrus and the Carpenter, as they walked along a beach before over-exploiting the local stock of oysters. Verses 4 & 5 of the poem as told to Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass were as follows:-

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Were walking close at hand

They wept like anything to see

Such quantities of sand:

‘If this were only cleared away,’

They said, ‘it would be grand?

‘If seven maids with seven mops

Swept it for half a year,

Do you suppose’ the Walrus said,

‘That they could get it clear?’

‘I doubt it' said the Carpenter,

And shed a bitter tear.

It only requires a slight substitution of junk for sand in verse 4, to express the nigh on impossibility of removing the smaller fragments of plastic even by armies of volunteers. Seaborne litter should be getting a higher profile and is now included in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Thought is currently being given to how best to develop monitoring programmes for the various components of marine litter. Actually collecting and disposing of it is quite another matter.

One consequence of the prolonged sequence of depressions swept across the Atlantic by the jet stream may have been a reduction in the “standing stock” of litter actually washing to and fro out at sea with more of it landing up on the shore. Back of envelope calculations would suggest that 40 days or so, with winds as they have been, might have swept ashore most of the litter from about 700 – 1000 nautical miles out in the ocean. Looking at the organisms growing on the litter, it was noticeable that while the lost whelk pots and other items thrown up from the near-shore seabed by the early storms had the usual range of barnacles and saddle oysters on them, the floating litter coming up then had few attached organisms. Debris floating in the open ocean for long enough usually gets colonised by things like stalked or goose barnacles (Lepas spp.). The occurrence of such organisms can give clues as to whether a proportion of the litter has come from out in the open ocean or from more local sources in and around the Irish Sea. It was interesting to see that photographs showed Lepas on the bottom of the boat on which the Mexican fisherman apparently survived, drifting across the Pacific for many months.

Lepas anatifera

Five species of goose barnacle turn up on debris washing up on Welsh shores. Of these the most familiar is Lepas anatifera. Unusually, at least in Llŷn and Anglesey, L. anatifera has been less common this winter than a smaller species, L. pectinata, which can be distinguished by the obvious radial ribbing on the shell plates. Another species, which can be found sometimes is L. hilli. This one has an obvious pale and often bright orange band where the stalk reaches the shelled part. The fourth species, L. anserifera, which seems to be rare, perhaps partly because it is less easy to identify, grows to be similar in size to L. anatifera but has ribbed shell plates. Finally there are a few records of the buoy barnacle Dosima fascicularis which starts off by attaching to small things like feathers but then goes on to secrete a float of its own.

Lepas pectinata, which can be distinguished by
the obvious radial ribbing on the shell plates

The author of this blogpost is Ivor Rees.

How Green is My Mountain?

Snowdon does not get the respect it deserves as a national icon and legendary burial site; our offerings to the gods are bags of dog poo, cigarette ends and plastic bottles. Litter picks address the symptoms but not the causes, and the volumes of litter can be massive with over thirty bin bags being filled on a walk down the Llanberis path.

This summer a group of organisations came together under the banner of Wyddfa Lân: Snowdon Tidy to assess the problem and put in place actions to make a lasting reduction of litter on all main paths from the summit to the base.

As part of the fact finding, two litter picks were organised with one from the summit to Llanberis in August and another in September which concentrated on the area around Glaslyn where blown-off rubbish accumulates (many thanks to the Snowdon Mountain Railway for providing transport up the mountain).  In addition a survey was conducted over four days with 160 walkers being interviewed by volunteers on all main paths.  Results from the survey and the litter picks are being analysed to assess the overall volume and visual impact, the most common items, hotspots for litter and worst offenders.

Initial feedback suggests the volume is down from previous years and the suspicion is that this is due to the appointment of Dewi Davies as senior warden for the northern area of the Park and Helen Pye as the warden for Snowdon after a couple of years with no wardens in post. Helen and two seasonal wardens patrol the paths on a regular basis and as part of their patrols pick up litter, especially at the start of the paths; the thinking being that people are less likely to drop litter in a clean area.

Inevitably the single use plastic bottle contributed the greatest volume of rubbish prompting the equally inevitable ‘if you can carry it full, surely you can carry it empty?’ As for dog poo bags, which were prolific at the bottoms of paths, these provoke the most disgust amongst walkers.

During the surveys and litter picks we talked with lots of people and one of the good things to hear, from people doing the 3 Peaks, was that Snowdon was much cleaner than both Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike. Considering we have three times the visitors to Ben Nevis this is quite an achievement.

When people were asked what could be done to reduce littering one of the responses was the provision of bins and recycling points, in particular at Pen y Pass. This is not an oversight but a conscious decision or policy of the National Park Authority; if you bring rubbish you should take it away with you. The vast majority of people respect and appreciate this but some just feel it’s someone else’s responsibility to dispose of or recycle waste.

There is no magic wand or silver bullet solution to reducing litter on Snowdon (and elsewhere) but there does seem to be overwhelming support by the many to address the problem that we think is caused by the few.  What we hope to achieve is for Snowdon to become an exemplar mountain, just as people who climb Cadair Idris might come down a poet, people who come down Snowdon become eco warrriors for a greener future.

We have a long way to go but we are on the way!

Wyddfa Lân: Snowdon Tidy is the name of an initiative to achieve and sustain a meaningful reduction of litter on all main paths from the base to the summit of Snowdon. This includes the car parks and responsible disposal of rubbish i.e. recycling not landfill.

The initiative is supported by the Snowdonia National Park Authority, Cymdeithas Eryri the Snowdonia Society, the Snowdon Mountain Railway, the Halfway Café, Natural Resources Wales, Keep Wales Tidy, the North Wales Environmental Outdoor Charter Group, the Snowdon Marathon and Bangor University through the Green Innovation Future Technologies (GIFT) project, the Wales Centre for Behaviour Change and the Welsh Institute for Sustainable Environments (WISE).

Following this initial phase positive improvement strategies to address the problems identified will be implemented in close consultation and engagement with all stakeholders.

We are grateful to have received financial support from the CAE Sustainable Development Fund and also from GIFT (the Green Innovation Future Technologies project at Bangor University) which has been a major catalyst for getting the initiative off the ground.

The Snowdonia Society is leading a group of volunteers up Snowdon on Friday 4th October for the annual end of season litter pick. The Snowdon Mountain Railway is providing a free ride up the mountain for participants. If you would like to take part please contact jenny@snowdonia-society.org.uk

A coordinated litter sweep on Saturday 12th October to clean the three highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales has been dubbed ‘The Real 3 Peaks Challenge’. Supported by the Mountain Training Association, the project will see teams of volunteers climbing to the summits of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, clearing as much as they can from the summit areas and from the popular routes used. The peaks have been chosen as the 'honey pot' areas but there will also be other clear up events across many National Parks. To find out how you can help and who your local contact is, visit http://www.mountain-training.org/latest-news/the-real-3-peaks-challenge

Harlech beach clean and feast

A dozen volunteers got stuck into the Portmeirion end of Harlech beach collecting all kinds of rubbish; orange string, green string, blue ropes, chunky ropes, plastic fish netting and so on but maybe not so many carrier bags as in previous years? Or is that wishful thinking that the bag charge is changing behaviour?

Pick-ups ferried sacks of rubbish to the car park with deep, drifting sand making it difficult to exit from the beach. Charging into the dunes the white 4x4s looked as though they were taking part in a trans Sahara rally.

By mid-afternoon sausages were sizzling over charcoal and wildlife guide Brian Macdonald was scanning the shimmering sea through his scope. Volunteers reappeared; must have been the long distance smell of sausages. They brought with them the odd bit of wildlife washed up in the strand line which Brian helped identify. I now know what to call that potato looking thing, a ‘potato urchin’ of course.

Jenny master chef

One of Brian’s specialities is to serve beach suppers with his guests helping gather edible seaweed, shellfish and driftwood for the fire. Today he brought mussels from Llandanwg placing them on racks above sawdust in a smoker sat on the barbecue. While they were smoking away he served mugs of crab bisque, made from one third shore crabs and two thirds edible crab. Chilled white wine was poured and then the mussels were ready, shells split open. Scooping out the orangey flesh with one half of the shell they slipped down a treat. Definitely not al dente.

smoked mussels

All blue sky, Snowdon clear, good company, good food and not a scrap of litter to be seen – job well done. Thank you to you volunteers who gave your time, thank you Jenny and the Snowdonia Society for organising the event, thank you Snowdonia National Park and Natural Resources Wales for laying on transport and thank you to Brian for a gastronomic delight. 

You can find out more about Brian’s wildlife guiding on his website. If you would like to join a Snowdonia Society volunteer event see the website for opportunities. 7^th June is footpath maintenance on Snowdon and 15^th June is dolphin surveying from the Great Orme.

If Brian was on Desert Island Discs I think he'd take the scope

The nature of a trail marathon

There was only one way to find out if I could do a marathon and a new one on my doorstep at Coed y Brenin seemed the obvious choice. ‘Trail’ sounded so much more appealing than road; although at the time I did not realise trail would translate into 3,959 feet of altitude gain.

A strong breeze kept away the worst of the midges as the organisers outlined a revised course. Torrential rains had forced a new route to be marked at the last moment. Then it was into the starting funnel, ‘The Final Countdown’ blaring out of the speakers, and Iori, the wildlife ranger, started us with a blast from his twelve bore.

For the first mile there was much shuffling of the pack as runners settled into their pace, conversations were struck up and there was a steady, easy going atmosphere as we ambled along. After an hour and six miles into the trail, front runners of the half marathon went pounding past on a thin, steeply downhill path laced with slippery tree roots – having started 30 minutes later than me they were obviously going twice as fast.   

What we lost in altitude into that deep gorge was regained by an exhausting haul up the other side. Once more on high ground we were able to take in distant views towards Cadair Idris but low cloud meant only a local would know that. At Tyn y Groes, friendly assistants handed out snacks and drinks at one of the many oases along the way. Beginning to feel a bit weary I chanced a gel, a pouch of instant energy, but I won’t be using them again.

‘Twelve miles in two hours’ my new friend from Edinburgh told me, reading off her high tech gadget. For her this was just a training run for a sixty four mile event around Mont Blanc. Much as I enjoyed her company I explained that I needed to drop down a gear and off she went. This was my black spot with legs feeling heavy. I was now at the furthest point I’d run before. If I could get through the next six miles I’d have a good chance.

The following stretch seemed to go upwards for ever and I wasn’t the only one walking the steep bits - and later on the not so steep bits. Four young women passed me chatting as they went. There was talk about the Champagne being on ice. One said she’d have some tonic with her first gin. Printed on the backs of their T shirts:

Never under estimate

the strength

of a woman

Don’t f@#k with

one who enjoys

running 26.2 miles

My heart sank as the route took us back down that deep gorge and up the other side but then it was steady running once more. My companion at this stage was a woman from Abergavenny, also doing her first marathon. Knee bandaged and pumped with pills after an early fall she was determined to reach the finish. Whilst I was looking forward to a hot bath, supper and a couple of beers in front of Euro 2012 she had the prospect of feeding four young children at their campsite.

Flapjacks and a few words of encouragement buoyed me up for the final stretch. After crossing a river one of the helpers said ‘well done, just over a mile to go’.  I think he meant just a mile of uphill, it was steep and a cruel sting in the tail. Then a steady half mile freewheeling down to the finish. A few minutes under six hours was not fast but I’d done it. The first person in the world to ever do a trail marathon in this body.

Many thanks to Trail Marathon Wales for organising the event in cooperation with Forestry Commission Wales – it was brilliant, friendly and atmospheric. Thanks also to all the marshals, volunteers and to South Snowdonia Mountain Rescue Team whose presence gave me a little bit of reassurance. My only criticism would be towards my fellow runners for dumping so much plastic along the way.

What next? How about having a go at the Dragon's Back Race?