By Sustainability Editor Erica Elliott.

It’s a bleak and cold morning in the middle of December, nestled amongst the sand dunes, and on one of Ireland’s most renowned nature reserves, lies an impending problem; plastic pollution. 

Since 2005, Donal McGuirk, one of the main organisers and secretary of the Bull Island Action group has been hosting weekly and monthly beach clean ups. But even on a day like today, “no matter what, people still show up”. 

These clean ups take place on Dollymount Strand every month, and there’s also weekly ones where there could be as many as ninety people there. 

The Bull Island Action Group is made up of exclusively volunteers who dedicate their time to combating one of the island’s biggest problems, by collecting plastic from the sand dunes, the beach and the biosphere. 

They find almost anything, whether that be televisions, election posters carried over from Dun Laoghaire , bottle caps, wine bottles, parts of a submerged car, and even plastic wrappers dating back to the 1980s.

“You know it’s 38 years ago and it’s still completely legible, it hasn’t degraded in any way. So when people tell you that plastic takes up to 400 years to degrade, that shows you”. 

Donal thinks people are “dismayed by the evidence of human pollution”, and believes this is one of the driving forces as to why they get involved. 

Recent statistics confirm that Ireland is one of the top plastic waste producers in the European Union, and national parks and nature reserves like this are vital protected areas, and cover approximately 15 percent of the Earth’s land.

While clean up groups such as these are important to monitor species and conserve ecosystems, for effective conservation, accommodation in terms of government funding and management is crucial. 

The local coffee shop ‘Happy Out’ is where the volunteer group store all of their equipment. There’s also many people around the area, including the council, who patrol the beach on tractors, collecting waste, and so they’ll often take the bin bags from the group to the spot for them. 

As for wildlife, take one glance at the beach and you’ll notice “this place is alive with bird life”. 

Efforts to improve animal conservation are at the forefront of nature reserves like this, and toxic pollution, such as these small microplastics hinder this. 

But “it’s inevitable”, John, a member of the Bull Island Action Group said.

“Microplastics are very hard to see”, and he explained how commercial fishing is partially to blame for this, as fishermen will cut off the nets while they’re at sea, and they don’t dispose of them properly. 

This island is a nature reserve, and home to the many native birds and pelagic species that rely on conservation to nest here every year, and Bull Island is “one of the best places to see them”. 

During the winter months grey seals can often be spotted here, as well as brent geese that travel from great distances to come here, and sanderlings (which are winter visitors), migrating south from Siberia and Greenland. 

John mentioned the opportunistic hooded crows, and pointed these birds out as they used their beak to pick up their food, as they flew and dropped the hard shell exterior on rocks and towards the ground to break them apart.

Donal spoke to The Bulletin about the history of Bull Island, which is peculiar, as its existence is a direct result of human intervention.

“Like if you know the history, the island didn’t exist. The island grew up as a result of the great north wall and the great south wall being built”.

“So the great north wall and south wall were built to keep the current of the Liffey big and stronger to stop sand accumulating in the port, and what happened was, then the sand went around and accumulated here. So this is 200 years old”. 

Many people have chosen to get involved in these beach clean ups. Some TD’s surrounding the area are regular contributors, as well as locals who they’ve organised beach clean ups with, such as the nearby golf club and sea scouts.

Each member of the volunteer group had their own reason for joining, whether that was to observe wildlife, help maintain biodiversity, or “they want to make a contribution”, as Donal put it, “we never go along and find nothing”.