RANGERS were out in force to patrol one of Inverclyde's top beauty spots and free it from litter.

Lunderston Bay's annual open beach clean was unable to take place because of Covid19.

But the countryside rangers rounded up some volunteers for a socially distanced litter pick up.

Top of the rubbish charts yet again was cotton buds, closely followed by sweet and crisp packets, along with bottle tops as well.

Countryside Ranger John Maclean said: "'It's great to see rubbish of some items on the beach decreasing. We only found six carrier bags while years ago we would have found 20 plus bags on the beach.

"But a lot of litter is still ending up in our seas so the message stays the same take everything home especially if the bins are full as birds will pull rubbish out of over flowing bins.

"We still have a long way to go to turn the tide on marine litter but we are getting there'

The small number of volunteers found 166 cotton bud sticks flushed down the toilet, 128 wrappers and 66 bottle caps.

Sea Champion Kathleen McMillan, a volunteer, said: "It's so important to record all the litter on the beach when we can for these surveys as it allows the Marine Conservation Society to put pressure on companies and Government to bring in laws and changes.

"We have seen carrier bags decreasing due to the bag charge and we should be seeing a decrease in cotton buds over the years to come due to the ban on plastic cotton bub sticks."