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Wildlife Aware Beach Cleans
Have you ever seen wildlife while you do your #2MinuteLitterPick or #2MinuteBeachClean?
We hope that you have. It's of the (many) joys of getting outside and picking up litter.
Litter picking and beach cleaning protects wildlife. We've been moved to action by pictures of turtles tangled up in plastic and we've seen headlines about birds ingesting hundreds of bits of microplastics each day. We know it needs to change.
It's easy to forget that the sea is teeming with life. The oceans are home to 94% of the planet's biodiversity.
Just take that in for a moment. Think of all the plants and animals you can think of that you see on land...that's only 6% of the planets biodiversity.
It's sort of like the tip of an iceberg and it's one of many reasons why your #2MinuteBeachClean and #2MinuteLitterPick is so vital.
Every bit of plastic you get out of the environment (whether you're on the coast, or inland) helps protect wildlife from harm.
Given that we're protecting wildlife as part of our beach clean it makes sense that it's already wildlife aware, but the places where we are picking up litter are habitats, so it's easy for us to disturb wildlife when we pick up litter:
- Large bits of debris that have been on the beach for a while can become part of the habitat.
- Seal pups are at risk of getting separated from their mothers if they're disturbed on the beach.
- Breeding seabirds and upland breeding birds are vulnerable due to climate change, so they need all the help they can get.
So we have a dilemma; we need to protect wildlife without causing harmful disruption.
We have provided an answer with our handy Wildlife Aware Guides. At The 2 Minute Foundation we've worked with Marine Conservation Society, Final Straw Foundation and Bird Aware Solent to bring you this fantastic guide to help you tread gently and take care of our precious wildlife.
Follow the link below to download your guide:
