Join us to share your beach clean experiences and hear from some of the inspirational organisations and individuals dedicated to keeping the Scottish coastline clean for people and the environment. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to find out more about local pollution projects and discover how to get involved in litter-picks or beach cleans in your local patch.
This event will be hosted by our Conservation Officer Emily, and we’ll be welcoming some amazing speakers to share their experiences safeguarding marine habitats and protecting wildlife from marine debris. They’ll be chatting about the projects they’re involved with and raising awareness about chemical and plastic pollution in our oceans. Our speakers are:
Elizabeth Vischer: Lilbeachcomber
Lil Vischer is an artist living in East Lothian, who spends a lot of time down on the shoreline gathering ideas and objects to inspire her work as a painter. In doing so, she slowly became aware of the vast array of objects washing up on a continual basis on our shores. In an ambitious attempt to document the scale of the problem she was seeing, she decided to go back to the same small stretch (around 900 m2 of Longniddry Bents) 100 times and to collect, photograph, count and record each haul of marine litter. Over the course of this project, she amassed over 26,000 pieces of plastic waste , some familiar finds and some much more surprising. She's now working to share what she found, in a bid not only to answer her own questions about cause and effect, but to help raise general awareness about what is happening in our oceans and what we can all do to help.
*A display of some of the debris collected as part of this project will be shown around the venue during this event.
Megan Kirton: Fidra
Megan Kirton is a project officer from the environmental charity Fidra. Megan runs the Great Nurdle Hunt citizen engagement project which is working to end nurdle (industrial plastic pellet) pollution. She will talk through the success of the nurdle hunt project in raising awareness and building an evidence base for nurdle pollution globally. You can also find out how you can help to be part of the solution by in taking part in the Great Global Nurdle Hunt throughout October 2021!
Maggie Sheddan: Scottish Seabird Centre, Bass Rock Guide
Maggie Sheddan has over 15 years experience working as custodian and guide on the Bass Rock, home to the world's largest colony of Northern gannets. Her work includes overseeing film crews, supporting research groups and guiding visitors on the Bass. She has been volunteering for wildlife for 20 years + , contributing to research projects across Scotland, including Save the North Sea beach surveys. She has experienced first-hand the injuries and mortality caused by entanglement, not just of seabirds but seals and cetaceans.
This is a friendly, collaborative event, where everyone’s experiences and questions are welcome. We’ll do our best to make sure that everyone attending is signposted to relevant upcoming opportunities coordinated by our panellists and by the Scottish Seabird Centre. We’ll also allow 10-15 minutes at the end of the event if you wish to stick around and chat to our panellists or connect with like-minded individuals.
This event will be hosted in the Scottish Seabird Centre on the Tuesday 5th October from 18.00-19.00. Everyone is welcome and this event is fully accessible for wheelchair users. In line with Scottish Government Guidelines, you may be required to check-in at the main entrance of the Centre and to wear your face-covering throughout the event, unless exempt.
You must register for this event if you wish to attend. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, our numbers are limited. With this in mind, please let us know ASAP if you sign-up to the event and can no longer attend – there may be someone eager to attend who can take you place.
As this is an evening event, our shop and café will be closed. Please bring your own refreshments if needed.
We look forward to welcoming you then!
Image copyright: Lil Vischer