1st Oct. Dog ban lifted on many Cornish beaches

1st Oct. Dog ban lifted on many Cornish beaches

Marizion beach, Cornwall 2nd Oct 2016

It is that time of year many dog owners in Cornwall look forward to.  The annual lifting on 1st of October of dog ban/restrictions on many of Cornwall's beaches. 

My being a resident in Cornwall & being reliant on public transport, most beaches in striking distance of my home fall under the much loathed dog restriction/bans during summer tourist months of May to Oct. 

Yesterday was the 2nd of Oct & I walked Tik-ma-dog from Marizion beach causeway to Penzance along the beach...and back again. Then we went on the beaches of the lesser visited other side of Marizion as the tide was out.  We had these 2nd beaches to ourselves.

I had been invited by our local Mp Derek Thomas to take part in a sponsored dog walk along Marizion beach to Penzance on the day before, on Saturday the 1st October.  I could not make it, but did go along the following day just to walk Marizion beach.  

Now I'm not saying it was compulsory to have a dog & walk on Marizion beach on Sunday, but for every person/group without a dog....I counted ten persons/groups who were walking with dogs. Dog walkers rule!

Beside the obvious benefits & joys of walking on a beach, & walking my dog on the beach, I am also their to hunt.  Hunt bits & pieces of beach cast up for my artwork.  However, pickings of driftwood, an bits & bobs for my artwork on Marizion were actually quite meager.

I did find a nice oval fishing net float, a smaller beach cast fishing float & a white plastic sprue which I genuinely thought at first was a fish spine...guess what that will probably become.  

I also began to notice the small discarded fishing line nests... & their considerable frequency.  I had been blind to these nasty plastic pollutants previous.  They had simply not registered on my visual radar when beach combing.  That perception changed as a result of meeting last week with Falmouth based Eco-artist Georgina Maxwell 

Georgina's work http://www.zhibit.org/ecomarineart speaks for itself & is well worth looking at as well as the environmental message behind each piece.  Taking man made pollutants cast up from the sea & turning it into poignant visually striking art forms. 

A thank you to the customer service of Penzance, Longrock McDonalds who without prompting offered a fresh bowl of water for my dog.  Also staff at Jordan's Cafe (who do exceedingly good coffee), but also offer my assistance dog a biscuit on her occasional visits.