same old story chaps.
The River cray in Bexley, Kent has plenty of litter. I and many of my volunteers pick it up every day, infact saturday just gone we filled a skip to over flowing from one stretch, you know what? Not a single bit of Angling related litter in over 200 metres of free public fishing.
yes we do find the odd corn tin, hook packet and ground bait bag, but this is rare. Yet still the locals say How much mess the anglers leave.
34 bin bags of sweet wrappers, bottles and beer cans.
1 motor bike
Plaster boards
20 metres of rubber tubing
5 bags of cement and sand
1 push chair
4 carpets and underlay
1 12ft wooden beem
15 car tyres
1 tricycle
1 burnt bed
in feb we had;
3 washing machines
2 wheel barrows
57 bags of litter
1 gas cylinder
3 trafic cones
1 plastic paddling pool
12ft of chain link fence
1 tumble dryer.
24 burnt out dumped cars.
And we still havnt finished that short stretch.
The EA wont do it, the council wont but will provide us with a skip.
the club who have the lease dont do anything at all.
Its local residents and Anglers who put in their spare time for no fee or goodies.
Just to see the difference is our reward.
To know we can do something about it and improve this Metropolitain site of special interest, Yes, Its a protected nature and conservation area. That tital isnt worth the paper its writen on, if the Authorities designate such conditions & dont do anything about it.
We Have. You can Too.
a good starting point, check out;
www.thames21.org.uk
look for Adopt-a-River.
find out whats going on in your reigon.
get involved.
If not then DIY.
If you want advice, contact me via e-mail
enabled, at top of post box.
Ashe Hurst
Cray Anglers Conservation Group. Co-Ordinator, Adopt-a-River
Check out "Pollution" on General.
I can walk over 1 1/2 miles and fill a bin bag every day with litter.
Alkies, Gangs of Wel ard youths, Family picnics/days out, the odd Arse hole trying to fish and two fingers to every thing else.
School kids, Joy riders, builders, domestic waste.
For Gods Sake, we have two Refuse tipps in our area, one directley up the road, 50 metres away. Free to residents and ?3.50 to others.
The estates are Dumps, and i live on one, built in 1989, endless battle.
4 new parks trashed within days of opening.
Council will not repair them now.
Brand new skate park and kiddies play area, lasted a week. graffitied and trashed, by the same local kidds that say they have nowt to do.
20 local Cub, Scout And Explorer scout groups.
New sports centre,
youth centres, Activities centre, weekend and holiday clubs, two water sports centres.
A rowing and sailing club on the thames and local lake.
and they are still not interested in using them.
Most days along the river, youths roam about, maybe not violent, but agresive manners and loutish acts of destruction on property and the wild life.
Its a sad reflerction of the scociety we now live in.
But then we do have those who care, the sad thing is the time and hard work can be spoilt within less time taken to correct a situation.
These Idiots will grow up?? Move away?? leaving the youngsters, that we must educate, make time for and listen to. Get them involved, word spreads on how much fun they had, or the rare wild animals that they were lucky to see.
Maybe a few years from now our problems may be less on the river side or around your lakes, if we put something into the environment and the local community, Dont shut them out.