Last Sunday witnessed the inaugural Big Litter Pick at Radipole Lake with staff and volunteers bagging up 50 large bin bags of general rubbish over four productive hours. Added to this tally were two bicycles, various wheels, helmets, a body board, a tent and a safe.
The day was part of the Wild about Weymouth and Portland (WAWAP) initiative, a new partnership project run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Dorset Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, (who kindly collected and disposed of the piles of rubbish) and Dorset County Council. One of WAWAP project goals is to encourage local people and visitors to learn about and enjoy the rich natural environment of the borough.
Among those who helped out for two hours was the Deputy Mayor of Weymouth and Portland Council Graham Winter, who said: “I’m very happy to show my support for this beautiful reserve, which is one of the jewels of the borough.”
As well as being unsightly and potentially polluting, certain items can pose specific danger to our wildlife; for example, the sticky remnants within drinks cans is appealing to mice (harvest, wood and others) which crawl in and become trapped and must suffer an agonising, slow death.
It is proposed that the event will be the first of many which it is hoped can be rolled out into the wider borough. We are all hugely grateful to those who pitched in and helped.