Anger after beach is left strewn with litter
ANGRY nature-lovers have hit out at beach-goers who left the stunning Teesside coastline strewn with litter.
Crowds flocked to Seaton Carew to enjoy the heatwave, but left a “disgusting” mess behind them on Monday night.
Bottles, cans, towels and disposable barbecues were just some of the items found on the shoreline.
Even the area cordoned off to protect the little terns, one of the country’s rarest seabirds, which reside at Seaton Carew, was hit by litter louts and visitors disturbing them.
Paula Wilkinson, a volunteer marine life medic, with the British Divers Marine Life
Rescue organisation, said she was shocked by what she saw when she went along to the beach yesterday evening to do a shift on little tern watch. She said she tried to pick up as much as she could to prevent it going into the sea.
She said: “On little tern watch for a few hours. Kids deliberately throwing bottles into the site, others using the perimeter fence as a wind breaker and washing line.
“I walked along the shoreline and was shocked that it was full of discarded bottles, cans and towels as far as I could see. If I hadn’t moved them above the high tide line they all would have been washed out to sea.
“A very kind man joined me and together we salvaged a huge pile of rubbish. I dragged several carrier bags and a green bag off the beach but still a massive pile of towels and bottles. This amount of rubbish going into our seas breaks my heart.”
Hartlepool Big Town Tidy Up is organising a litter pick on Saturday morning at the beach at 9am.
Anyone who would like to go along and help should meet at the bottom of Sandy Car Park.