“Grandad! Look what I’ve found!” cried Jenny, as we explored the rock pools at low tide. 

“What is it?” I replied. 

“I’m not sure… It’s quite stretchy… maybe a hair band?” 

“Here, let me see… Ah, yes, it looks like a piece of a bungee cord. They’re normally attached to the plastic hooks that keep the doors shut on the lobster creels. It must have snapped at some point. See how it’s worn in the middle, too?” 

“So where’s the rest of it?” inquired Jenny. 

“I don’t know, but there could be some other bits around here, and maybe the plastic hook that it was attached to as well. Keep your eyes peeled.” 

“How did it get here?"

“Well, I assume it must have washed up on the tide.” I gestured towards the rocks running out to sea. “D’you see there’s a sort of dip between those two long stretches of rock? That acts as a kind of funnel when the tide comes up, so all sorts of things get washed in along these channels, and then get left behind when the tide goes back out.” 

“What‘ll we do with it, grandad?” 

I thought for a moment. “Let’s put it in the bin, so it doesn’t get washed back out to sea. I’ll stick it in my back-pack; we can drop it in the bin by the car park.” 

“Why can’t we just put it back where we found it? It’s a bit smelly, and if you look over there, and there,” she said, pointing, “there’s a lot of crisp bags, and plastic bottles and other rubbish. We can’t carry all of it with us, can we?” 

“Maybe not, but at least if we put this in the bin, it won’t get washed back out to sea. The thing is, Jenny, because it looks a little bit like a worm, a fish, or even a bird might eat it.” 

“Then what would happen, grandad?” 

I sighed quietly to myself as I pondered the best way to break the news gently. “Well, Jenny, it could make them ill, and there’s even a chance that they might die. That’s the problem with all of this rubbish, you see: if a dolphin or a seal gets tangled up in a rope it can get badly hurt, and if a whale sees something that looks like food, such as a plastic bag, they may swallow it because they think it’s a squid.” 

An anguished look spread across Jenny’s face. “Oh no! That makes me so sad, grandad.” 

“Me too, Jenny” I nodded in agreement, “Me too.” 

“What shall we do?” 

After a moment’s consideration, I came up with a plan: “There’s one thing we could do to help. There’s a beach clean coming up soon, we could come along and join in, collecting all the rubbish that’s been washed up. Would you like that?” 

She beamed: “That’s a brilliant idea, grandad. I’d love to help the dolphins… and the seals… and the fishes.” 

“And don’t forget the birds and the whales, too.” 

“Yes, don’t forget the birds and the whales…” 

I put the bungee cord in my backpack and we wandered on… 

“See grandad! There’s a wee crab in this rock pool!” 

April 2023