Dramatic arrival back in Ross-shire – as the tail end of hurricane Gonzalo hits the coast, I am sat editing my presentation and making notes for funding applications in my ‘office’ which is being rocked by the Westerly winds which are beginning to hit the coastline, it’s a great reminder as to the power of  nature and the need to find shelter soon. Certainly tonight I will be looking for a much quieter location to park.

Along the beach two people are braving the storm busily collecting many bags of seaweed, brave souls and they remind me that on  Saturday  the SYHA & I have planned Ullapool’s 2nd official beach survey & clean. It would be great if the weather calmed and the sun burst through to encourage people to join us  below Pollan Park in Ullapool at 2pm, strong shoes and warm weatherproof clothing essential.

The information we gather will be passed onto the Marine Conservation Society national beach watch statistics to enable comparisons to be made between various locations along the coast and between years.  Last year over 800 pieces of litter were collected  including  45 carrier bags, 85 pieces of fishing line & net , our 8 sacks of litter  weighed over 35kg collected from just 100m of beach.  In theory as the beach was cleaned comprehensively last year, there should be  much less litter to record this year, either way there will be a warm welcome and refreshments at the SYHA  after the event .

It will be interesting next year to see if there has been any reduction in the number of plastic carrier bags we find along Ullapool beaches after the introduction today of the mandatory charge on one time use bags. On this morning’s 200m standline walk I counted 9 bags.