News
The items on this page are in several different sections including:
Embracing the Hebridean Winter Through Nature, Saturday 25th October at 7:00pm, Failte Centre, Bayhead, Stornoway
There were several speakers italking on different aspects of the Hebridean winter at this Species on the Edge event. Janet Marshall spoke on the Dangers of Marine Litter to Wildlife. Excellent refreshments were available.
Beach Clean on Saturday 25th September at Bayble Beach, Isle of Lewis
In association with the Western Isles Health Branch of UNISON, the public service union, we held a beach clean on this beautiful and popular location. CCOH hasn't held a beach clean there in years and this time we had Rodeo along with us, the lovely pack donkey that lives in Bayble who helped remove 14.88kg of marine litter on a "robust" day
UNISON Conference, Brighton 09/10/25
Janet Marshall spoke at the recent UNISON Retired Members Conference describing the work of Clean Coast Outer Hebrides and how important that the knowledge, skill and experience of volunteers is properly recognised and utilised.
She was not impressed by the beach there!
Beach Cleans
North side of the Braighe 27/09/25 in association with the Hebrides International Film Festival
On a "vigorous" day, a dozen volunteers turned out to remove 38kg of litter, mostly marine from the shore. A vape and a sharp knife were removed. This event was in association with the Hebrides International Film Festival.
CCOH had previously had concerns about holding an event in this location as there had been a horrific amount of dog mess, but after having a chat with the Environmental Health department of Comhlaire nan Eilean Siar, the local authority, they put this banner beside the car park, and emptied the bin so the area was dramatically better.
Gravir Shore with Pairc School 24/09/25
We walked down to the shore and back, discovering this novel way to keep the post dry. The children removed 7.11 kgs of litter including several shoes, none of which made a pair!
Holm with Point Cubs and Beavers, 22/09/25
A great turn out that cleaned most of the marine litter off this shore. 38.9kg was collected, but the children were fascinated by kicking all the puffballs!
Ramadal (Swordale Beach) 17/09/25
On a rather wild, wet and windy day, 28 kg of mostly marine litter was removed from the shore. This event was in association with Hitachi, SSEN and Balfour Beatty and the reporter Katie Laing from the Stornoway Gazetter joined us. Read her report here:
Meeting with Scotland's First Minister
​
On Friday 15th August 2025, our Founder and Chair: Janet Marshall was able to
tell the Right Honorable John Swinney, First Minister of Scotland about the work
South side of the Braighe, Isle of Lewis 15/08/25
On a perfect day for a beach clean* a mixture of experienced and novice volunteers made a great difference to the south side of the Braighe and the car park area in the middle.
23.7kg of mostly marine litter was removed, then a further 10.5kg removed from the heap previously collected at the eastern end, weighed, sorted, details logged, then taken to Creed Park where we recycled what we could. Sadly most of what was collected ended up in the landfill.
The sign says ...Fishing/Access
Affected by the overhead electric power lines
Always carry rods, poles and other equipment at a low level, parallel to the ground
​
Newton, Stornoway 19/07/25
There was a LOT of litter to be shifted, including this broken fishing rod. Unusually most of the items collected were from the land, food packaging, drinks bottles, both glass and plastic. Usually the source is from the fishing and aquaculture industries.
Several of the local residents came out to thank our volunteers for doing such a splendid job.
Crossbost, Isle of Lewis 21/06/25
Three shores in the Crossbost area were tackled, and CCOH were delighted that several Mowi fish farm staff came along and moved a LOT of fish farm gear. All of the litter from the eastern shore was removed, and most of the items collected from the shores beside the pier. These were sorted, logged, taken to Creed Park recycling what we could.
West Loch Tarbert, Isle of Harris 19/06/25
We supported the juniors of Sir E Scott school in Tarbert to clean the beach beside their school, but didn't have time to completely clear it in that session, so it was wonderful to hear that several of the pupils came back after school to finish the job. Well done!
Garry Beach, Isle of Lewis 14/04/25
In association with Hurtigruten Expeditions HX, the cruise line company, staff and crew from the vessel that was visiting Stornoway that day joined the clean at Garry on a beautiful day. At first sight, the beach looked clean but there were a LOT of small pieces of fishing gear.
CCOH were very privileged to be the first Scottish group to be selected to receive a BIG BLUE BAG, an environmental initiative with Monty Halls. The bag contains the materials to conduct experiments on the beach that can assess the degree of microplastic present, sea temperature, Ecosystem Health via Bird Species, and Coastal Litter.
​
The event was filmed by the BBC; Janet Marshall spoke on the English version that was shown on BBC Scotland evening news and Magaidh Smith spoke on An Là, MG Alba.Clips of these news items are below
​
Monty Halls and a young volunteer being filmed by the BBC while doing an experiment to assess the degree of microplastic present in the sand.
A video clip from BBC Scotland evening news in English
​
A video clip from MC Alba An Là in Gaelic
Some of those present at Garry that day:
Second left, Janet Marshall, Founder and Chair of CCOH
Third left, Monty Halls, Environmental Speaker and Ambassador
Third left, Gebhard Reiner, CEO of HX Expeditions
Plus our lovely and essential volunteers
Holm, Isle of Lewis 20/03/25
In association with Stornoway Primary School, the children made a start on clearing this shingle shore on the west side of Holm.
Holm, Isle of Lewis 05/04/25
Continuing to clean more of the shores at Holm, much litter was removed from both sides of the isthmus.
Excellent News from
Fauna and Flora International
We were selected for Capacity Training by Fauna and Flora International which means that several nice things are happening now including receiving funding so far for more training of our team, better signage and equipment for our events, and good software to do our accounts.
We are very grateful to Ceris of Fauna and Flora International for helping us sharpen up our act, this means that we will be working with many more community groups to mentor and support them to do their own beach cleans. The groups we have worked with so far have been very successful. Please contact us at hello@cleancoastoh.com to discuss how we can support your community group.
RSPB Nature of Scotland
Award Ceremony
Clean Coast Outer Hebrides is a member of the Scottish Islands Federation Marine Litter Working Group, which was a finalist from over a hundred applicants at the RSPB Nature of Scotland Award at the end of November in Edinburgh under the Coasts and Waters category this was the first time that SIF MLWG had applied and were delighted to have made the top five. From left to right: Catherine Gemmel: Marine Conservation Society, the sponsor, Catriona Spink: Tiree, our own Janet Marshall: Chair, CCOH, and Camille Dressler: Chair, Scottish Island Federation. We wanted to take this lovely Highland Coo made by Vicki Last of SIF to the event, but the organisers said no.
For more of our past events, click here for our