Castle coast clean-up by Caithness volunteers
THE coastline near a famous Caithness castle was given a tidy-up thanks to a group of community-minded volunteers.
The aptly named Paul Castle – from High Life Highland's Caithness and Sutherland ranger service – contacted Dorcas Sinclair from the Caithness Beach Cleans group and suggested that the coastline near the Castle of Mey was "in dire need" of a clean.
Dorcas said: "That day [Tuesday, October 8] one of our pickers went and lifted 16 lb of small stuff but could not manage the larger waste. On the Thursday, four of the group went down to deal with what we could – myself, Allan Sinclair, Caroline Swan and George Robertson."
The rubbish included 24 large creels, a drum of used oil and various large pieces of plastic including "something that looked like a truck roof". These were left in three piles at various places on a track that accessed the area.
The total for the day was 1183.5 lb.
"The problem was how to remove it," Dorcas said.
The track was not suitable for cars and the creels were so large that only two at a time would fit.
"I went to the castle to see if they could help but they only had a small trailer and so directed me to Longoe Farm," she said. "I spoke with Sandy McCarthy who is now going to go and pick up all of the creels and large plastic for us which will then be disposed of by the council."
Dorcas says she is delighted that people are so willing to help. "This is the second farmer that has helped us out by removing large items for later collection," she added.
If anyone knows of a beach that needs some maintenance they can contact Caithness Beach Cleans on Facebook or the local ranger service.
