Author Archives: Neil Frost

How ironic that after days of hot weather it was pouring down with rain as we met for today’s litterpick. But we say that our work parties will go ahead whatever the weather. And that’s just what happened today.

A quick Health and Safety Briefing – don’t stretch so far into the undergrowth that you get injured by anything; ensure that sharps (= syringes) are placed inside bottles or cans so that they can’t cause any injuries. In retrospect we should probably also have mentioned not to go through long grass or other vegetation if wearing shorts and to remember to apply mozzie spray!

Then we were off to deal with all areas of the cruising ground.

We reckon we know most of the places where litter, especially sexual debris, is to be found.

And of course our black sacks generally need emptying. We weren’t quite sure what the relevance of this was…

The weather improved. The bags got heavier. And eventually we returned to base for some welcome refreshments. Another jolly crowd.

Some catching up and some banter and then it was time to put the sacks at the side of the road for collection tomorrow.

Today’s haul: 16 of our standard-sized rubbish sacks. With a further 15 sacks collected by our ‘solo’ litterpickers  that’s a total of 31 sacks this month. Good work!

Please note that we respect everyone’s right to anonymity and only show pics of those willing to have them posted. There might have been more OWL volunteers taking part than are in the above pictures.

No inferences should be drawn from anyone’s participation in an OWL litterpicking session.

Another day-after-the-Bank-Holiday litterpick. Not the largest turn out for one of our OWL litterpicks. But nevertheless a good one.

 After catching up with each others’ news at the meeting point our five volunteers set of to cover five different areas of the cruising ground. Looks like someone has been taken for a ride!

And after an hour or so of litterpicking our volunteers started returning with their heavy sacks (of litter!).

Included in our findings was a pair of prescription sun glasses; brown frames. If they are yours email us (owlsnaresbrook@gmail.com) and we’ll find a way of getting them back to you.

We understand that another group has also been litterpicking in this area, Fair play. There’s enough litter for all of us!

Time for our refreshment break and further humour and banter.

Having dealt with the main cruising areas it was time to take the sacks to the road and for some to leave, two to go and investigate a suspicious parcel (turned out to be nothing significant) and one to do some work on areas that had been missed.

We reckon that today we collected the equivalent of 25 of our standard-sized rubbish sacks. With a further 22 sacks collected by our ‘solo’ litterpickers (yes TWENTY TWO! well done guys!), that’s a total of 57 sacks this month.    

Please note that we respect everyone’s right to anonymity and only show pics of those willing to have them posted. There might have been more OWL volunteers taking part than are in the above pictures.

No inferences should be drawn from anyone’s participation in an OWL litterpicking session.

A great day to be out in the woods and a great group of OWLs prepared to do the monthly litterpick.

Safety Briefing over and equipment sorted our groups headed off across the cruising ground. Often after a Bank Holiday weekend there’s lots of ‘picnic’ rubbish left around. Today it wasn’t too bad. But there were still some remnants.

We aim to visit all areas used for cruising.

Our OWLs roamed far and wide to ensure that rubbish sacks were emptied and rubbish was removed from the vegetation. Lots of wipes today.

Then back to base with our spoils.

Time for a chat and a refreshment break. And consideration of the most unusual items collected today. A frying pan and a shovel were probably the most difficult items to explain!

Finally, the bags carried to the road for collection tomorrow.

We reckon that today we collected the equivalent of 25 of our standard-sized rubbish sacks. With a further 15 sacks collected by our ‘solo’ litterpickers, that’s a total of 40 sacks this month.                  

Please note that we respect everyone’s right to anonymity and only show pics of those willing to have them posted. There might have been more OWL volunteers taking part than are in the above pictures.

No inferences should be drawn from anyone’s participation in an OWL litterpicking session.

Good weather and a good turnout of volunteers. Including two new folks. New folk are always welcome!

As usual, the Safety Briefing as a quick reminder that there can be risks and we want to minimise them.

After which our OWLs headed off in several groups to litterpick across all of the cruising ground.

We get to all of the places that many will never discover (although from the litter it is obvious that some have been there before).

If we discover a new ‘hot spot’ we aim to place a conveniently-located rubbish sack there to help with easy disposal of litter.

Meanwhile, all areas of the cruising ground were being covered,

With work continuing until it was time to head back to base with the evidence of our work.

Time for refreshments (including some tasty warm savoury bites!) and a friendly catch-up chat.

With one volunteer having to head off to collect a further sack of rubbish that had been too heavy to carry back before.

It had been another good haul.

Today’s bag-count? The equivalent of 17 of our standard-sized rubbish sacks. With a further 8 sacks collected by our ‘solo’ litterpickers, that makes a total of 25 sacks this month.                  

Please note that we respect everyone’s right to anonymity and only show pics of those willing to have them posted. There might have been more OWL volunteers taking part than are in the above pictures.

No inferences should be drawn from anyone’s participation in an OWL litterpicking session.