Beach Litter
From 3x3m of Rockpools at Skara Brae beach Orkneys

Hi Everyone
Quick update on my fundraising, drum roll
So far I have raised 2,500 pounds from donations and people buying my crafts.  Thank you all so much.  I will be continuing to raise money so if you know of anywhere that I can do a talk please let me know.

Lost Lobster Creels, Fishing Nets and Ropes on Sanday

Hi Everyone
I'm just back from a fabulous 7 days on the Orkneys, well the mainland and Sanday Island to be specific.  We will be sailing between mainland Scotland and the Orkney Island of Hoy on our round Britain expedition.  We leave in 3 weeks on Monday!!!

The Orkneys are well aware of their beach litter issue.  They put up signs reminding people to not throw litter over board on the ferries and the communities come out and do beach cleans.  However, the beaches that I walked were not clean.  The main issue is lost fishing gear, particularly lobster creels, floats, fishing nets and ropes.  And plenty of plastic bottles.  I also saw lots of broken down plastic: fragments of plastic bottles, pieces of buoys and rope filaments in particular.  I even found a bottle and a squirty cream aerosol can that were Spanish - floated from Spain or lost from a Spanish vessel?

I found very little glass fragments; I remember that 45 years ago I used to collect sea polished coloured glass, there would be lots of it.  Now it's plastic bottles, reflecting the change from glass bottles and jars for drinks etc to plastic.

Last night I did my first talk, at the Snowgoose cafe bar in Macclesfield.  It went down well, although I was picked up on the term 'micro'.  'Micro plastics' is the given term for any plastic pieces that are smaller than 0.5cm or 5mm.  Strictly speaking 'micro' should refer to measurements done in Microns.   There are 1000 microns in a millimeter - a bit cumbersome to say 5000 microns.  I'm just using the recognized term that has been given, however, the issue of microscopic particles of a few microns is massive too - the manta nets we will be using are not fine enough to pick them up.  These particles are small enough to move into individual cells and are literally a whole other kettle of fish that will need looking at next.

Trapped Heart

Hi everyone
It's been a while since I posted but loads has been happening.  I've already started planning and buying my gear, canvas yachting shoes and wellies, sun hat, shorts and merino wool thermals.  We only have a tiny space each to stow our gear and we are aiming to keep plastic items to a minimum, particularly avoiding fleece fabric clothing.  Fleece sheds fibers, particularly during washing, and we expect to find these fibres in our micro plastic samples.  It's important not to risk accidental contamination of our samples from our clothing.

It's less than 6 weeks until we set sail from Plymouth.  I have raised 25% of my own expenses through my gofundme page and selling plastic art and cards.  As a team we have raised 10,000 pounds through crowd funding to cover our out reach expenses, renting venues for talks, science, art workshops etc.  A set of my sea plastic art cards were one of the gifts on offer.  (My gofundme page is still open www.gofundme.com/plasticseas

My planning roles have included arranging a venue in Stornaway, An Lanntair, an arts centre.  We will be met there by Jill Smith, a local artist that I met many years ago and have invited to join us.  I have also been liaising with Dr Lewis Hou from Edinburgh University, to run a pop up science workshop in a shopping centre during the Edinburgh Fringe; we will have hand held magnifiers and microscopes that can be fitted with mobile phones to take pictures, for examining micro plastic samples that have been collected.  The following day, fellow Macclesfield resident and crew member, Jess and I will be running workshops at ASCUS in Edinburgh.

Myself and another crew member will be the science co-ordinators on the second leg of the expedition.  This will involve detailed analysis of micro plastic samples; measuring, counting, recording.  I will also be involved in beach cleans and art workshops in other ports.  I have liaised with other artists and organizations, introducing Muddy Fingers, a waste plastic art collective to the expedition.  Muddy Fingers will be joining us on our return to Plymouth and running an arts workshop.

I have been interviewed by both local radio stations to Macclesfield, Canalside and Silk Radios, and done an interview with the Macclesfield Express.  I have a talk planned on July 13, at the Snow Goose cafe bar in Macclesfield, with a BBQ supper, if anyone can make it.  I will also be talking at the Macclesfield Scibar on my return.  Other talks are being planned.  On July 24th I am meeting with the Marine Conservation Society in Ross on Wye.