Marine pollution: Russian fly spray and 1800s shoes among beach litter
- Published
A Peterborough City Council bin washed up on a Norfolk beach more than 60 miles from the city
Russian fly spray, US prohibition-era rum, shoes from the 1800s and a council bin have been among the stranger items to have washed up on British shores.
To highlight pollution, the National Trust has revealed the oddest objects to wash up on beaches it manages.
The 19th Century shoes, Russian insect spray and an aerosol from Saudi Arabia were all found at Orford Ness, Suffolk.
The National Trust said it illustrated the "deluge" of marine litter and how long items such as plastic could last.
The organisation, which manages 780 miles of British coastline, has called for volunteers, staff and the public to take part in beach and river cleans in a bid to tackle marine pollution.
Items were discovered on British beaches from Russia, Saudi Arabia and Canada
Some finds were recent but others were decades old, such as a 1976 Claws crisp packet and the remains of a 1980s picnic found at Formby in Merseyside.
Other items came from across the world, with plastic covered in goose barnacles, thought to have come from the Caribbean, and a Canadian research buoy found in Northern Ireland.
Some of the debris came from closer to home, with a Peterborough council bin found at Blakeney Point in Norfolk, more than 60 miles from Peterborough, having travelled along the River Nene.
A rusted spray can was also among the items found
Phil Dyke, coastal specialist at the charity, said: "It's fascinating to hear of the unusual things that land on our beaches, whether they're relics from history or objects that have travelled thousands of miles.
"But as weird and wonderful as these items are, they tell a more serious story about the permanent nature of plastic, and the constant deluge of marine litter arriving on our shores.
"No-one in the UK lives more than 75 miles from the coast, so whether we're in the city or the country, everything we do impacts on the health of our seas."
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