Bishop’s Meadow litter pick

Saturday morning began with a walk through Bishop’s Meadow armed with a pair of marigolds and bin bags. I was on my way to meet the other volunteers taking part in the Bishop’s Meadow Trust litter pick.

As you can see, we completely lucked out with the weather!

Signs of Spring were popping up. Celadine growing under bare brambles and I found these blossoms on one of the trees.

Now you might be reading this wondering where on earth the litter is? Once I’d spotted the first piece, it opened my eyes to all the rest. Crisp packets, drinks cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, old boots, dog waste, takeaway containers, plant pots…the list goes on. Most of it was in bushes guarded by brambles and branches.

So we rolled up our sleeves and got cracking. Tessa bought along some litter picking tools to make the job easier but in some cases the only thing to do was dive in.

Ted was our four-legged mascot and seemed very excited by the whole thing.

It was surprising how much rubbish we uncovered in a relatively small area. These boxes had been dumped in the orchard area full of young trees.

There was one silver lining to this sad sight; about half of the litter we collected was recyclable. We filled our bin bags with everything we could find and then separated waste items from recycling back at the wheelbarrow.

Dog waste was by far the worst thing we had to pick up. It stank. If you are someone who is guilty of doing this, think of people like us who are giving up our free time to pick up bags of rancid poo. Put it in the bin!

Half of me went home feeling sad that people treat a public space like this, the other half felt pleased we cleared so much in a short space of time. It was a dirty job but an essential part of keeping the meadow in good shape. Doing it with a team of like minded people in the sunshine made it more enjoyable too.

You can learn more about volunteering on the Bishop’s Meadow Trust volunteering page.