Gruellie Belkies Saving Sanday's Shores

PU3P and Anne Bignall from the RSPB's Enjoy Wild Orkney project, visited Sanday Community Centre and then Sanday School to give a talk and slideshow along with the Sanday Ranger, Rod Thorne. A good turnout for our evening talk gave us an indication of just how concerned and active the community are about looking after their amazing beaches. Anne showed us some of her vivid photos of the habitats and creatures she sees underwater convincing everyone that the thriving underwater ecosystems around our shores need to be protected just as much as the creatures we see above the water.

 

Rod shared some memorable images of beach finds and strandings as well as some unfortunate victims of entanglement which have been found on the shore.

 

We finished off with a look at the typical sort of litter which ends up on our shores and why it is worth removing it even if you can only pick up three pieces of it.

 

Next morning at the school we spoke again at assembly, and then to the Eco Group who had some good questions to ask about where the litter came from and ideas about how it might have got into the ocean

 

 Finally we spoke to the John Muir Award group who have already cleaned one beach and plan to visit one a week through the duration of their project. As well as recording and reporting ray and shark cases and dead birds, they are bagging and removing large amounts of litter at each location. This is a great time of year to do this, particularly this winter, after the consistent and violent winter storms which have dislodged and thrown up masses of litter previously in the water column and on the sea bed. We look forward to a guest post from the group later to hear how their inspiring example of outstanding active environmental responsibility has progressed.

'Scratching the Surface' - a guest post by Anne Bignall

If you glanced out to sea on a grey windy day in Orkney,  it would be easy to think that beneath the surface of the waves was pretty murky and inhospitable –  a place lacking in colour and perhaps rather sparse in life. This couldn’t be further from the truth!  Even at the shallowest depths, there are a wide variety of  vibrant, colourful and dynamic habitats supporting an astonishing array of animals.  Kelp forests, eelgrass meadows, rocky outcrops adorned with seaweeds and the sand or muddy sea bed itself make Orkney a fantastic place for life to flourish and our clear water makes it a great place for snorkelers or divers to experience what is there.

You get a hint of what might be living beneath the surface when things are washed up on the beach dead,  or by catching a glimpse of dolphins or whales breaking the surface of the water, seeing seals hauled out or even seeing seafood caught locally.  However, spending time in the water, enables you to experience this amazing ‘other world’ and to see marine animals living out their lives, responding to their surroundings and interacting with each other.  Once you’ve experienced this and made that connection it is impossible to ignore the catastrophic damage plastic litter is causing to the environment and the horrendous suffering it causes to sentient animals that rely on the ocean like seals, cetaceans and seabirds.

All the picture in the slideshow are taken around Orkney’s coast – most in water only a couple of metres deep.  If you are really inspired, why not try snorkelling yourself? For more information you can visit the Snorkel Orkney Facebook page where some of Orkney’s avid snorkelers post pictures and discuss marine life.