by charlie | Aug 31, 2019
On Thursday 29th August we carried out a litter pick along an inland stretch of the Ayrshire Coastal Path/National Cycle Network at Kilwinning (Byrehill Rd). On the Irvine to Ardrossan section of the Trail, sadly this single track road is a known problem-area for littering and fly tipping. By the end of the 2 hour pick we had collected 15 bin bags of rubbish and a variety of larger items including a paddling pool and a whirligig! We were also able to report several instances of fly tipping, one of which being a boat! North Ayrshire Council’s ‘Report It’ app proved very useful and we highly recommend giving it a try if you don’t already use it! The litter pick was organised as part of Eco Ayrshire 2019 – a month-long festival celebrating what local organisations across the area are doing to ‘Take Steps today to Sustain Tomorrow’.. Volunteers from the Scottish Wildlife Trust Ayrshire‘s ‘Time out Thursday’ initiative came along to help, as did Ian ‘The Nation’s Favourite Litter Picker’ Cassidy – all of whom were a huge help in the clean up! Within a few hours, Streetscene (North Ayrshire Council) had been along and removed all the collected rubbish, leaving a lovely tidy road behind for visitors and locals alike to enjoy. This litter pick was made possible due to funding which the Ayrshire Coastal Path received from Sustrans Scotland. The Love Your Network Grant Fund enabled us to purchase litter pickers, bag hoops, hi viz vests and a range of hand tools. We are very grateful to Sustrans Scotland for the support and funds received! Photos courtesy of John Linton of Sustrans...
by charlie | Aug 25, 2019
On Saturday 24th August the Ayrshire Coastal Path (ACP) teamed up with Gillian’s Walks to lead a group of 30 people (and 2 dogs!) along the rugged coastline between Dunure Castle and Greenan Castle. This 6.5 mile section of the ACP is known for it’s dramatic scenery and the dry, warm weather we were blessed with ensured that a great day was had by all! This event was organised as part of Eco Ayrshire 2019 – a month-long festival organised by volunteers, celebrating what local organisations across the area are doing to ‘Take Steps today to Sustain Tomorrow’. Five members of the ACP team joined in the walk, including the Trail Manager, Works Manager and some of our volunteer Path Wardens. This presented a unique opportunity for the public to see and hear first-hand all the hard work our volunteers have put into maintaining this particular section of ACP over the past year, as well as the chance to have their Official Guidebooks autographed by the author himself! We were also able to introduce our ‘Blue Planet – Blue Bin’ initiative: encouraging walkers of these remote areas to pick up any small plastics they come across during their walk and pop them in the blue barrel provided. These are then emptied by our volunteer Path Wardens in the area. We would like to thank Harry and Lindsay of Eco Ayrshire for all their support and most of all a huge thanks to everyone who came along on the walk. We hope that we have inspired you to walk some more of the Ayrshire Coastal Path or maybe even give...
by Ron Ireland | Aug 19, 2019
This month’s ECO-Ayrshire festival attracted the attention of ThatsTV Scotland who wanted to do an advance feature. A reporter met our pathminders on a work party at Dunnymuck where we were installing another of our ‘blue bins’ to encourage walkers to do their bit for the path environment by picking up plastic litter – Blue Planet, Blue Bin, Pick up Plastic, Pop it in. It was a beautiful sunny morning on one of the most scenic parts of the path and the TV shots should be superb – the interview with Ron Ireland perhaps less so! Another bin in...
