We’d planned to litterpick this year on the first Tuesday of every month from April onwards. Then Covid-19 came along. Lockdown, social-distancing and all that. So in the interests of everyone’s safety we cancelled a few work parties.
But wise OWLs can’t be locked down for ever and we felt that we needed to get back into the woods and do some clearing up of the inevitable sexual debris that would be there.
In fact it wasn’t anything like as bad as it could have been. Several valiant souls have been out litterpicking on their own – including one of our OWL group – and done a brilliant job.
Nevertheless, there was work to be done and following our posts on Squirt, along with messages to several others showing an interest, an amazing total of eleven guys turned up to litterpick. Brilliant!
A welcome, a description of the task in hand, a bit about health and safety and two teams were off in separate directions while another wise OWL flitted round the woods replacing the permanent bags we’ve installed in the hot spots.
There was plenty of litter to find and our newbies were soon up to speed and working well. Much of the litter is what we are used to. Bags, papers, cups, bottles and cans along the paths and in the more public areas. Used condoms, condom foils, lube sachets, wipes and tissues in the hotspots. The odd bottle of poppers. A latex glove. Not really sure what a tin of ‘weed’ sachets was doing in one of the hotspots?! Offering a new deal maybe?
Just over an hour’s intense litterpicking and it was time to regroup for refreshments. Not the full OWL selection due to Covid transmission issues but, following hand-sanitising, the free bottles of water and wrapped biscuits were appreciated.
Before, during and after the session it was good to have a much larger number of people than usual walking past and thanking us for what we are doing.
Time for a couple to leave us but most stayed for Round Two. More of the same but going further afield. It’s always good to introduce newcomers to hot spots they might not be aware of – even if under these circumstances the purpose is just to collect litter.
Corona was still around, of course!
Finally, the fun had to come to an end and the OWLs regrouped again to seal the bags and place them at the roadside. An amazing total number of bags, and an OWL record! FIFTY FIVE sacks of litter; thirty three of general rubbish and twenty two of recyclable rubbish.
HUGE thanks to everyone who came along and made a difference. We hope to see everyone (and more!) next month.
(Please note, we respect everyone’s right to anonymity and only show pics of those willing to have them posted. No inferences should be drawn from anyone’s participation in an OWL litterpicking session)