Aerial project sheds light on coastal blight

OIL drums, a dumped car, abandoned kayaks, fishing creels and clay pigeon discs are among a sea of rubbish identified on the Ross-shire coast by a new aerial survey that is highlighting pollution in our oceans.

The litter was put under the spotlight following the launch of SCRAPbook – the Scottish Coastal Rubbish Aerial Photography programme – which has seen pilots and observers take to the skies to snap areas of pollution and rubbish in hard-to-reach sections of coastline.

The concept, first devised by the Moray Firth Partnership, has grown into a national collaboration with Sky Watch Civil Air Patrol and the Marine Conservation Society.

Sky Watch pilots have flown over sections of Scotland’s mainland coast for the last few months taking photographs when they see litter on the coastline.

These have been classified by volunteers on a scale of one to five, with five being the worst and then uploaded to an online map that anyone can use.

Schools, groups, water sports clubs and councils are all being urged to use the website to learn about the worst affected areas and focus clean-up efforts.

Vicky Junik, manager of the Moray Firth Partnership said: "We hope that SCRAPbook will become an invaluable tool to everyone tackling the rising tide of marine litter. The easier it is to find out where the litter is, the easier it is to mobilise clean-up efforts, and we’ve tried to focus on the less popular or harder to reach parts of the coastline, so we can build a really comprehensive picture of the reality and scale of the challenge; a challenge everyone can help tackle."

For more details about the project, to view a map highlighting the litter found, or to volunteer for clean-up efforts, go to www.scrapbook.org.uk

The eye in the sky has spotted a remarkable variety of rubbish in Ross-shire, ranging from "a football, plastic fishbox and plastic containers" in Applecross to "an abandoned kayak and large rusting boat" at Nigg.

Ardullie, Novar, Balblair, jemimaville, Barbaraville, Arabella, Tain and Avoch all feature on the online map.