Flintshire Coastal Rangers, volunteers from the Dee Wildfowlers and Tata Steel teamed up for a River Dee spring clean on Sunday, clearing over 40 bags of marine plastic, glass bottles and plastic bags.
Flintshire Coastal Ranger Karen Rippin said, “We had a great morning and cleared over a kilometre of river bank in under two hours thanks to the valiant work of the Dee Wildfowlers.”
Twenty two volunteers from the club joined Tata staff and two Coastal Rangers covering a section of the river considered too difficult for members of the public to tackle due to the terrain, vegetation and driftwood.
Chris Anyon Conservation Officer for the Wildfowlers said, “It was a great turnout with a total of around forty four hours spent litter picking this scenic section of the river at Connah’s Quay and we would like to thank Tata for working with the Coastal Rangers and ourselves to provide access and support on this wonderful section of the Dee Estuary.”
Earlier this month, eight volunteers from Sustrans, a UK charity enabling people to travel by foot, bike or public transport, also cleared 22 bags with the coastal team, which makes a total of over 62 bags cleared this month.
“The good news,” said Mike Taylor Senior Ranger, “is that we are seeing marine litter on the Dee Estuary in Wales coming down to manageable levels through the efforts of Coastal Rangers and all the voluntary groups like the Wildfowlers, Keep Wales Tidy officers and all the volunteer and business groups that take part in The Big Dee Day! We also meet individuals who go out of their way to bring back the odd discarded item on our rivers and beaches, and for that we would like to say a big ‘thank you and keep up the good work’ to everyone- it is working.”
