Eyes in the skies to map coastal litter hotspots

An innovative new project has been launched to identify marine litter hotspots around Scotland.

The Scottish Coastal Rubbish Aerial Photography, known as scrapbook, will see conservationists, amateur pilots and photographers team up to map the extent of rubbish polluting the country’s coastline.

The resource will help volunteers, communities, schools and individuals to target beach cleaning efforts and surveys.

The Marine Conservation Society, Sky Watch Civil Air Patrol and the Moray Firth Partnership are behind the scheme.

Archie Liggat, Sky Watch chairman, said: “SCRAPBOOK is an exciting project, as we hope it will raise awareness of how much litter is around our coasts and enable more to be done about removing it and preventing it from getting there in the first place.”