Bracadale Blitz 2026:
Between 21st and 25th May, we were involved in a further blitz of the beaches in Loch Bracadale and nearby Loch Eynort. This is part of a collaborative programme of beach cleans on Skye and the Small Isles, coordinated by the Marine Litter Working Group of the Scottish Islands Federation, which forms part of the Skye & Small Isles Beach Litter Recycling Project, now into its fourth year. Once again, the Scottish Coastal Clean Up Project brought their boat, the Curlew, and the Ocean Recovery Project were there to collect as much material for recycling as possible. Despite pretty inhospitable weather – which meant the boat could only be used for a very limited amount of time – marine litter from removed from a “new” site, Gesto and collected up at Caroy/Shagarry for the first time, as well as at regular hot spots, Ardtreck Point and Loch Eynort. More than 400 hours of volunteer effort went into this exercise over the five days, but due to the weather, a considerable amount of collected and bagged litter remains to be recovered from Caroy and Ardtreck beaches, when weather and boat resources permit. If anyone locally might be available to help carry this out, please get in touch via the website or mailbox! It is estimated that even before the recovery of the final collections, around 1 tonne of collected beach waste was diverted to reuse, repurposing or recycling.
We are as always grateful to The Highland Council and Mowi for providing skips for disposal, but it was great to be able to send so much material away destined for more constructive purposes.