Apologies that this is not a sighting, but I have had the ok from the webmaster to post this.
I work at the University of the West of England. A couple of my students are investigating the prevalence of micro-plastic pollution in the Severn and whether there is the potential for it to bio-accumulate in the food chain.
If anyone finds a freshly dead wader or seabird could you please let me know (and if you can stomach it, collect and freeze the bird so I can pick it up), as I would be very grateful to have the chance to look for evidence of micro-plastics having accumulated in its tissues. I can be contacted on mark.steer@uwe.ac.uk.
I will write a short piece in the next issue of the Bittern to explain the project in a bit more detail if it is of interest.
