CARDROSS children spent a day by the sea recently as they discovered some of the many species that call the village bay home.

Marine biologists were on hand to share their knowledge at a family open day on Saturday, October 2 and a full beach survey 24 hours later, as participants explored and learned more about the biodiversity of the bay.

Community group Cardross Climate Action Network (Cardross CAN) has received funding from Nature Scot to undertake quarterly beach surveys over five years, and the latest event, which was the second so far, proved a huge success with young and old residents alike.

Cardross CAN’s Lyndsey Young said: “We were really pleased with how it went, especially given that the weather wasn’t forecasted to be that nice.

“We had a great community turnout for it with 12 children and their families on the Saturday and about 10 adults on the Sunday.

“We got our full survey completed and also undertook a bird survey successfully.

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“All the participants found it very interesting, they hadn’t realised all the different tiny things that live on our beach.

“They spent time going through it with a marine biologist and this was the second survey that we’ve carried out; the first was in June and the next one will be in January, although we may not open that up to the public as the weather won’t be too great then.

“We’ve received funding from Nature Scot for the equipment we’re using with the aim of working out what the biodiversity of the beach is, and whether we could do anything to aid it.”

Cardross bay is part of the special protection area that covers most of the Clyde estuary, with a protection zone for over winter birds like curlews.

Dog walkers are not supposed to be walking their pets off leads on the bay between August and April, but Lyndsey said not many residents are aware of the rule.

The weekend events followed on from a ‘Love It, Fix It, Share It’ session held at Geilston Hall at the end of September, which saw residents bring along their bikes, books and clothes and learn how to maintain the items that would otherwise be thrown away.

The four-hour session was the final event in the village during Climate Fringe week ahead of the COP26 conference in Glasgow next month.