Lesley Bailey with the children who cleaned Belvoir as part of the Adopt-a-Beach scheme. (Picture by Mary Carey, 0844696)

HERM’S annual Beachwatch clear-up has proved that visitors are being much more careful about how they dispose of their rubbish.

Last weekend, five beaches were cleaned as part of the Marine Conservation Society’s International Coastal Clean-up Project.

The Herm side of things is organised by Lesley Bailey, who is our champion of all things outdoorsy. Lesley is part of the Britain in Bloom and Floral Guernsey committees and, as island PR person, spends much of her time showing around groups of visiting travel agents and journalists.

There have been years when Lesley and her family have had to do almost all the beaches themselves, but this year many volunteers came forward to take part in the scheme, despite the bad start to the weekend.

‘It was pouring with rain as I met the Elizabeth College students and teachers from the boat,’ said Lesley. ‘But by the time we had walked to Shell Beach the rain had stopped.’

On Saturday morning the largest group of volunteers tackled Shell and North beaches.

‘Thanks must go to Brian Aplin, a geography teacher at Elizabeth College, who came across with biology teacher Rachel Seymour and the Year 8 students,’ said Lesley. ‘They study the coast in their geography lessons, so clearing and studying the rubbish is all part of that.’

They were joined by islanders Jane Makemson and John Singer, and despite the bad weather they had finished both beaches by lunchtime.

Fisherman’s Beach was cleared for the fourth time by Shirley and Jonathan Hancock, who stay every year in the holiday cottages. Bear’s Beach was tidied by Phil and Jean Reeves, who stay in the Keep, and have been helping with Beachwatch for around eight years.

‘It is lovely to have the support of regular guests as it makes the task of Beachwatch so much easier,’ said Lesley.

Belvoir was cleaned by the Herm children. The school takes part in the Adopt-a-Beach and goes out rubbish-collecting several times a year.

Shell and Belvoir tend to generate the most visitor-related rubbish, whereas the other beaches have more items that drift up from the sea. The rubbish collected included 136 crisp, sweet, lolly and sandwich wrappers, 331 plastic pieces less than 2.5cm and 236 polystyrene pieces, along with one pair of sandals and two worn single shoes.

It is clear, however, that the message is getting through to visitors that the rubbish goes in the bin. This year a total of 17.36kg of rubbish was collected, compared to 34.1kg two years ago. It seems the island’s Bin the Butt campaign has also been effective, as included in this figure were 252 cigarette ends, compared to the 652 collected in 2007.