My Canoe on Macclesfield Canal

Hi everyone
Since eXXpedition Round Britain 2017 I have been busy giving talks and writing magazine articles.  Now I have started my own project, litter picking the canal system and collecting water samples to analyse for micro plastics.  I've been donated a canoe and have been practicing getting in and out - not so easy - I fell in the canal on my first attempt. Paddling took some practice too, I seem to go round in circles a lot. Then I got a small puncture, I could hear the air escaping from underneath me - all fixed now. Then learning how to manoevre the canoe to where the litter is so I can grab it with my litter grabber.

Next step is to start collecting water samples. I have been in touch with several scientists looking at micro plastics for a suitable protocol, and advised to make my own, keeping it reproducible.  So for this I need to get together some 500ml jars, funnel, filter papers, foil and zip lock bags. By the way, after the expedition I begged a smartphone desktop microscope - similar to what I had used in Edinburgh - and received one from Heriot Watt University, so I am now looking at micro plastics myself.

This is going to be my new JOB. But of course as a citizen scientist I don't get paid by any organisation. There are a few small grants I can apply for to buy equipment. So I have been asking friends if they would be willing to set up a monthly standing order into my bank account, similar to paying into a charity.  Encouraged by the response I am now putting it out. Would you like to contribute to paying me to do this work? I suggest 50p/a pound, two pounds etc. With enough people contributing a small amount each month, this would give me a monthly salary. In return I will post my work and results in this blog, on Facebook, Twitter etc.

Please contact me if you would like my bank details. deborahmaw@hotmail.co.uk 07949965842

Thank you
Deborah

https://youtu.be/1_xZ77JGDOs

This is the link to the Sky Ocean film of our trip. IT's beautiful, funny, informative and has quite a lot of me in it - I'm wearing the green jacket.

We had a private viewing on a big screen in a hotel in London today - about 10 of the crew came plus the Meek family.  It was fantastic.

I'm doing a talk in Bournemouth about the trip and the issues of toxics associated with the plastics, tomorrow if Storm Brian doesn't stop the trains.

https://mobile.twitter.com/SkyOceanRescue/status/918184409815068672/video/1

Hi Everyone

This is a link to the trailer for the Sky Ocean documentary that was made of our trip, being shown on Sky next week.  It should be on YouTUbe shortly afterwards so I will post the link when it comes.

Thanks for watching, and still reading my blog!

https://www.theguardian.com/…/plastic-fibres-found-tap-wate…

Hi everyone
I'm back up north - still in Manchester but heading to Macclesfield shortly.

This link came into my FB stream this morning - you may have already seen it or heard about it.  I'm not surprised based on what we have seen in our very limited scientific research of UK coastal waters.  The sad thing is that fleece fabric may be a significant contributor to these fibre, and yet it was hailed as the great breakthrough in how to recycle plastic bottles - many fleece manufacturers use recycled plastic bottles.

I will continue to post in this blog, for those interested in my future work with plastics.

Micro plastic in a pinch of sand

Hi everyone
The trip is officially finished.

We arrived in Plymouth yesterday morning after an incredible weekend's sailing from London. Saturday was sunny - lazing on the deck in sunshine for the first time.  I was on watch from 4-8am on Sunday morning and the wind was picking up.  By 10am it was gusting up to 32knots, and carried on for the rest of the day.  Lot of sea sickness in the crew (even the skipper was sick) however, I felt relatively ok, so I was able to helm on other watches - at one point it was completely exhilarating, like the best roller coaster ride - until the watch leader realised it was quite rough and took over from me - my few minutes of wildness even better than the wild helming I had around Land's End.

My last watch was Monday morning from Midnight till 4am.  The sea was calm but it was very foggy, cold and damp - and I felt ill, I couldn't even helm, it made me too queasy.  A good chunder and I felt marginally better, but I'd not put my waterproof hood up properly and was very damp inside - wishing the watch over so I could go to bed.  Suddenly the someone pointed out the dolphins.  I'd never seen anything like it - closest description is the dementors in the Harry Potter movies.  It was really dark so we couldn't see the dolphins themselves, all we could see was their trails in the water lit up with phosphorescence.  It was magical. What a treat.  They hung around for about 30 minutes and then disappeared just before end of watch.  That's 3 magical experiences of dolphins I've had on this trip.

We arrived in Plymouth much earlier than expected so had loads of time to do some science in Plymouth sound.  Lots of polystyrene particles in the trawl!  We docked at about 10am and after interviews with film crews etc we spent several hours cleaning up the boat - I was on bilge duty, which I volunteered to do as I'd be with Holly and everything is fun with her.  New exercise - Bilge Yoga - she was contorted into the tiny space between the boat bottom and the pipes above cleaning, while I vacuumed up the washing water.

We were so grateful for the showers at Plymouth Marina after that.  Then a group of us headed to Plymouth Arts Centre for the showing of A Plastic Ocean.  Very beautiful film about a very sad subject.  We had a bit of a Q&A afterwards before rushing off to the restaurant where we were having our farewell meal.  Last night sleeping in my bunk!

This morning I went with another crew member to BBC radio Devon for a live interview and then to the Plymouth Aquarium to work with 'MuddyFingers' - a woman who contacted me on FB months ago saying she's like to be involved.  She and her partner travel the world to dirty beaches and make stunning art from the plastic.  BBC Devon were there too and I got interviewed for the TV show Spotlight on tonight.

Back to the Marina to write this up before I head off now for the bus.

I have lots of photos to put up but my phone is so overloaded I can't email them to myself yet!!

It's been amazing - thank you to everyone who has supported me financially - and continues to do so - bless you.

Looking out this evening as I write this from Hermitage communal Moorings

The view behind me

Being here on Hermitage Moorings has been wonderful - like an oasis of gently rocking calm in a cacophony of noise and activity.  It's been a hectic two days - we leave tomorrow morning (Saturday) at 7am, for the final leg of the journey to Plymouth (arriving Monday about midday).

We've had two days of moving to St Katherine's pier to dock between 9.30 and 2pm for boat tours and to take part in the Thames 21, Kids Against Plastic and #OneLess event at St Katherine's Dock.

St Katherine's Dock

I was on cook duty yesterday so I was cooking lunch in the morning - vegan Minestrone soup - and then headed to Potter's Field on the other side of the river to assist with a huge art installation by Maria Arceo, of plastic collected from the Thames in 14 litter picks in one year.

Exxpedition women with Maria Arceo

It was then a big taxi collection of whole crew to ZSL, the Zoological Society of London, for talks by Prof Richard Thompson of Plymouth University who first described Micro Plastics about 25 years ago, Dr Jenna Jembeck a leading plastic environmentalist, the incredible Meek sisters of Kids Against plastic (#Kidsvplastic), the sustainability manager of Selfridges who have done wonders in de-plasticising their brand, and Exxpedition founders Dr Lucy Gilliam, who works with persistent organic pollutants and their effects on endocrinology, and Emily Penn, who is an extraordinary adventurer.

Taxi rides back, and off to visit the art installation as it was being lit up at night.

Finally to bed, for another early start today.  I was at St Katherine's dock this morning, talking to whoever I could get to stop and listen - and my 'sort of cousin' Fiona came.

Sam and I on the stall

Fiona having a boat tour

Then it was a quick rush back to the boat to get back to Hermitage as we had a story telling workshop for the story telling event this evening at Hermitage.  I did a very hilarious skit on the day in the life aboard Sea Dragon - some one filmed it so hopefully I can post it some time.

Got back to the boat to find science lead Diana and Nicole, filtering loads of jars of water samples - the pump broke about two weeks ago and the new pump had been trying to catch up with us since.  An impossible task while the boat is moving, and needs to be completed before Plymouth.

So I'm off to bed now having had a quick shower.

I have so enjoyed my time - these last few days will be quite nostalgic.  Definitely more sailing for me.

Perfect Sailing Conditions for the Manta Trawl in the North Sea

We managed to do quite a bit of science en route from Edinburgh - having the best sailing weather of the trip, sunny with a good wind.

The photos show the manta trawl, and some of the contents, bits of plastic.  We also saw a lot of helium balloons - managed to rescue a few.  Remember we are only deploying the trawl for 30 minutes and it only skims a small area of water - multiply what we find as if we'd done a 24 hour trawl of the whole ocean.....And what we see is only the 'micro' plastic, visible pieces up to about 5mm - we do other samples for the 'nano' plastics, the minute fibres etc that we can't see.

The newspaper article describes some of our concerns about plastic pollution - these chemicals which are washed into the sea via sewage plants and manufacturing, are attracted to plastic particles, creating highly toxic particles which are ingested by fish and ultimately by us - good reason to go vegan!

What's in the trawl net???

Micro plastics attract these chemicals

Bits of visible plastic