On Monday, the Awaydays Coastcare group carried out a beach clean at the North Beach at Tenby.

Although the quality of the condition of the beach is in a very good condition, they found there is still need for improvement, especially with regard to the amount of broken glass which various members of the group found whilst on the beach. One particular fragment found was especially dangerous, in that it was a large fragment of clear glass from a discarded beer bottle.

“When we usually find such an item, we make a clean sweep to find the other fragments,” said Alan Bowen, chairman of the group. “However, on this occasion we only found the middle main part of the bottle, which was nearly half of the circumference of the bottle shape. It was on the surface of the beach with the sharp ends upright; if someone just walked or was running over it, then the item would have caused injury

“The other items of glass found had been worn down by the sea, so they were not a hazard as such, though if broken they would be.”

“Many tins and plastic bottles were found, quite a number of clean plastic bottle tops were also found, having been discarded; if these were still on the bottles it would stop the wildlife eating them, especially the birds, though when these are washed out to sea, then the fish eat them. It is like a circle, for when the birds/fish die, other birds/fish then eat the same plastic items.

“On this occasion, no plastic carrier bags were found, what usually happens is that the wind carries them out to sea, then the larger sea creatures eat them or get into trouble by the plastic in some way or other, quite a lot of small pieces of fishing net were found, though what we concentrate on are the small plastic items which are washed up by the tide.

“This year the group will be examining the items collected, doing research into the items found, on this occasion it seems that the items found were made up of maybe half washed in by the tide and half discarded by the public when visiting the beach.

“What we also found were some sealed discarded dog litter bags, most of which were found around the north end of the beach. There are rubbish bins situated on the beach itself which can cater for such items.

“An observation which we made was the fact that there had been rock falls in at least two separate places along the beach, though especially at the north end of the beach, where a large chunk of rock had been dislodged from the rock face on the southern side of the slipway, together with smaller pieces of the rock face. The main rock displaced measures approximately one foot six inches deep and five-foot in length by three-foot wide; it didn’t land on the beach itself.”

After the beach clean, members of Awaydays Coastcare carried on their journey by train to Pemboke Dock, stopping off at Penally on the way back, with a coastal walk back to Tenby on the South Beach.

“What was interesting on the South Beach from Penally to Tenby was the fact that the beach seemed cleaner, even though there are dogs on the beach,” said Alan. “There was no sign of any dog litter bags or any mess on the beach as we walked along.”