Members of the University of Sussex Wildlife and Conservation Society helped to clear up Shoreham Beach.

Wildlife-loving students helped to clear a local beauty spot of litter and debris.

Members of the University of Sussex Wildlife and Conservation Society teamed up with Friends of Shoreham Beach committee member John Charlish to carry out a thorough clear-up on the island.

A wide range of debris was collected from across the beach including items gathering in and around shingle plants, tide-lines, sea groynes and beach huts.

The team of volunteers took away litter items including drink cans, bottle tops, nylon rope and numerous small pieces of plastic.

After the beach clean, students spent some time learning about some of the natural objects that can also be found along Shoreham Beach including cuttlefish bones, dogfish and ray egg cases, whelk eggs, sea shells and the remains of various crabs.

Steve Savage, a mature Zoology student and Wildlife and Conservation Society committee member, said: “A relative of the albatross, the fulmar, is prone to swallow plastic such as bags, balloons, floating plastics as well as random items such as toothbrushes and cotton buds. Fulmars nest each year on the cliffs east of Brighton and fly low, skimming the surface of the sea for food. Scientists report that most of the dead stranded fulmar around the UK show signs of plastic ingestion and this ingestion is at its highest for fulmars in the Channel.

“John Charlish explained that the small pieces of plastic we picked up started off as large pieces that had degraded and broken down. While the large items are unsightly, the small pieces are the most dangerous as these tiny pieces are easily ingested by birds, fish and many other marine life. Microplastics, most invisible to the naked eye, are microscopic pieces of plastic and man-made cloths fibres readily ingested by all sorts of marine life from plankton to marine worms and molluscs.”

Anyone interested in helping with a beach clean event in Shoreham should contact John Charlish at friendsofshorehambeach@gmail.com.