Angling community called upon to help protect coastline

A new conservation project is planning on cleaning up marine litter in one of Newquay’s most popular fishing spots and is calling on the help of the angling community .

The Newquay Coastal Clean-up project is the creation of a group of students from the BSc Applied Marine Zoology degree course at Cornwall College Newquay. 

Their aim is to reduce angling litter around Towan Headland by raising awareness of the issue and providing local anglers with increased opportunities to dispose of their litter.

Jay Boyle is one of the students involved in the project and says the group “hopes that the angling community will encourage the minority who leave litter behind to start disposing of this in an appropriate manner”.

“We also want to raise awareness of the potential consequences it can have to the marine environment, local wildlife and water users,” Jay continues.

Example of the types of litter left by anglers 

“We plan to install an educational sign and a 'line bin' in Towan Headland car park, for the disposal of mono-filament and other forms of fishing line, which will help massively to reduce litter at fishing marks around the area.”

example of a line bin / fishing line littering the coastline

Jay adds that it had been great to see the support already received from the local community and said “those we have interacted with through social media have already taken it upon themselves to make a difference”.


The students came up with the idea for the project collectively as part of a project management module for their degree and are each involved in aspects such as fundraising, social media, photography, and website maintenance.

 “The initial idea came from a couple of people in the group, who are both anglers who regularly fish the area and were fed up of seeing the shocking amount of litter left in what is a simply astonishingly beautiful area,” Jay continues.

“Our idea was pitched to the others in the group, and although the rest of them weren't anglers, they were either divers who use the area or passionate conservationists who could envisage the potential for this project. The idea snowballed from there, some research was done and everyone was fully on-board with the idea. It really is a pleasure to work with like-minded people, striving to achieve the same goal and need no motivation.”

What distinguishes the project from others of its kind is that most conventional beach cleans on the Newquay coastline don’t access the Towan Head area. The large amount of litter left around the headland makes it a real concern, having a huge effect on the marine environment and wildlife. The conservation of Newquay’s unique coastal areas is hugely important to the group of students involved.

Jay says he had “spent my entire life a stone’s throw from the ocean and have never really been apart from it”.

“What started off as a hobby, then grew into something more, I wanted to learn about more than just the types of fish I was catching; which led me to pursuing a career in marine conservation and zoology through Cornwall College Newquay. Since being on the course, I have learned vast amounts about the marine environment, but there is still so much left to learn and that's what I really love about it. It’s not a case of learning the theory and then knowing everything, science is always progressing and there's always more to learn.”

Find out more about the Newquay Coastal Clean-up project:

Facebook: Newquay Coastal Cleanup

Twitter: @NQYcoastcleanup

Instagram: newquaycoastalcleanup

For more information on Zoology, Marine and Surf courses available at Cornwall College Newquay visit www.cornwall.ac.uk or call 0845 22 32 567.

The Oxford Residential- Guide Dogs for the Blind

The Oxford Residential- a student experience (part 3)

By Emily Hall- FdSc Animal Husbandry and Welfare

Guide Dogs for the Blind Association
Students arrived at the centre after a very cold morning and were greeted by the staff with warm smiles, hot drinks, and even a custard cream or two! The staff and long term volunteers took turns in introducing themselves, one member of staff had been volunteering at the centre for 26 years.
After a couple of short videos about the work Guide Dogs conduct on behalf of the blind and how many volunteers it takes to carry out this dedicated work (10,000 across the UK), students were left in awe of the charity and all its members- furry or not!

The hard work carried out by staff and volunteers affords a blind or partially sighted person their independence, allowing them to fulfil everyday tasks that most of us would often take for granted; crossing the road or going to the supermarket for example. The guide dog gives back confidence which may have once been lost, and dogs are again matched to suit individual recipients. A German Shepard (GSD) bred with a Golden Retriever for example could be matched with a very outgoing person, since the dog would be full of the energy of the GSD and require more mental stimulation than other breeds.


















The Guide Dog Association has its own breeding facilities and every year 1200 dogs are bred and a job is found for every one of them. While some may not be suited to ever leave as a fully-fledged guide dog, some may be house dogs, helping with tasks such as washing, picking up items from the floor, fetching the phone and many more.

As with the Hearing Dogs, a whistle is used in training, and mainly for recall. Three short bursts from the whistle is used consistently from a young age during meals times, after three bursts on the whistles the food is presented, the dog associates this sound with a food reward and responds with returning to the sound of the whistle. The three bursts are used because it is so universal, if it was just one burst people may whistle for different periods of time or in a different tone, three short bursts are fast and effective and grabs the attention of the dog.The dogs are also taught to go to the toilet on command, no time for the toilet whilst working!

After the introduction to the centre and the work they carry out, we got to see some of it in action. Ufton and Fenton were the next two dogs we met, Ufton a lab x retriever at 18 months old was already taking part in advanced training and had the harness to show for it! Fenton on the other hand was still young at 12 months old (he was a GSD x retriever) and was still under early training on the lead, both showed talent as they guided their handler around the propped walkway.


 After this demonstration, students had the opportunity to meet the dogs, and exchange some kisses. They had lovely gentle natures, and while they were a working dog, you could see they were equally as playful as your average pet dog.

Next the students had the chance to walk around the propped walkway holding on to the harness, with members of staff playing guide dog. I think it is fair to say most took part thinking it would be easy…how wrong we were.

As soon as you can’t see anything and are expected to walk around obstructions, you can’t help but let the panic set in, you didn’t quite trust that you weren’t about to painfully walk into a sign, but you knew they wouldn’t let it happen. Every ounce of you relies on that person (or guide dog) for confidence, without them and only your hearing and touch, the world becomes a dangerous place, enough for anyone to want to stay indoors. These guide dogs really are empowering people. Students and tutors also experienced the sensory room, with a variety of different goggles you were guided by voice through a room full of all sorts of different objects. To name a few there was a radiator, a child’s toy, a brush, a tree, clothes and many others. It was an experience to help anyone appreciate just how difficult life can be the for the blind or partially sighted.

The Oxford Residential- Redwings Horse Sanctuary

A group of students from the FdSc Animal Behaviour & Psychology and the FdSc Animal Husbandry & Welfare courses have just returned from an exciting annual field trip to Oxford. The three day residential trip involved tours and hands-on experience at the Hearing Dogs for Deaf People Centre, Red Wings Horse Sanctuary, the Guide Dogs for the Blind Centre and the UK Wolf Conservation Centre. Check back over the course of this week for student Emily Hall's write up of the trip.

The Oxford Residential- a student experience (part 2)

By Emily Hall- FdSc Animal Husbandry and Welfare

Redwings Horse Sanctuary 

Situated in Oxhill, this centre is one of 10 across the UK, with up to 1,500 Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and Mules. All the centres aim to promote the care and protection of these animals and educate owners and future generations with the best ethical training techniques.

The Redwings Horse Sanctuary focuses on the behaviour of an individual horse and the possible causes of those behaviours. Since horses have photographic memories it is possible that undesired behaviour is the consequence of a bad occurrence in the horse’s history, and as a flight animal, reminders of these incidents may trigger unwanted behaviour. All horses that arrive at the centre are rehabilitated with gentle conditioning, and roughly 150 are rehomed every year, with the horse being on permanent loan to the new owner.

While Redwings cannot prosecute, and pursue cases of abandonment, abuse/neglect, they do however work alongside the RSPCA in procuring a prosecution and order against the abuser. Sometimes horse owners approach the centre in need of help due to things becoming too much for them, they may be too elderly and simply cannot care for the animals anymore. In these circumstances the horses are signed over and previous owners are not charged with any neglect.


On the other hand, some horses come in completely feral having had no real care and protection such as Little My, whose owners bred for show purposes but due to her old age and the quantity of horses she owned, she simply could not handle the amount of time and effort that was needed to care for all of them. They were consequently signed over and no further action was taken.

Little My

Little My has taken six months of gentle encouragement and daily sessions to be at her current point of accepting touch (she had never been handled prior), and accepting head collars. Trainers at the centre suggested an average of two months of consecutive training to be at this point in most cases, but feral individuals may require more time invested.

Redwings are the largest horse sanctuary in the UK, and have over 250 members of staff across ten sites. The students were impressed with the size of the facility and the sheer number of cases the organisation takes in, along with their success rate.

One thing that must be said about Redwings, as interesting and as brilliant an opportunity it was to visit the centre, it was VERY cold, I’d advise any students thinking of visiting in the future to make sure they have thermal under layers or just lots of layers!

The Oxford Residential

A group of students from the FdSc Animal Behaviour & Psychology and the FdSc Animal Husbandry & Welfare courses have just returned from an exciting annual field trip to Oxford. The three day residential trip involved tours and hands-on experience at the Hearing Dogs for Deaf People Centre, Red Wings Horse Sanctuary, the Guide Dogs for the Blind Centre and the UK Wolf Conservation Centre. Check in to NEWQUAY NEWS over the course of this week for student Emily Hall's write up of the trip.

The Oxford Residential- a student experience  

By Emily Hall- FdSc Animal Husbandry and Welfare

Hearing Dogs Centre for Deaf People
Arriving in reception to sign up, we were instantly overwhelmed by the sheer size of the facility, and that’s before the tour had started. Our tour guide Alison braved the blustering cold to show us around the site, looking at the training facilities, the kennels, the exercise yards, recipient B&B’s and training flats.
In the main hall, students were treated to a demonstration by three of the young hearing dogs. The eldest, Zorro, at 15 months old, is a credit to the centre. He scored a five on sound training, with most dogs at his age averaging on three, he has also already been matched with a young deaf and autistic boy, and is due to leave at the end of February. He will only be 16 months, whereas the average age for a dog to leave and find a match is 20 months old.

This is Zorro.  A lab retriever x, and is a fine example of the calm nature of the Golden Retriever, yet has the energy of a Labrador and is always eager to learn.

He has been with his trainers since the age of six weeks old, commands are in the form of hand signals and whistles since some deaf people may have a problem with their speech. For the last 10 weeks, Zorro and his trainers have been joined by Charlie, another Lab x Retriever. Charlie is only four months and is already well tuned to his trainer’s commands, with his attention mainly focused solely on his trainer. The trainers working with these young dogs, are predominantly volunteer based, the dogs live with the trainers until they are suitable to be matched with a recipient, and then the trainer will be allocated a new puppy.

While the puppies go through vigorous training for the most of their life, volunteers are also expected to take part in courses and training classes at the centre, they even learn basic sign and are always there to hand over the puppy to their new owner, working alongside them until they are confident enough to handle the dog of their own accord and continue the puppy’s training.
The organisation works with Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Cocker Spaniels and Poodles, often mixing the breeds to create calm and focused breeds.

After a quick look in the training flats, students gathered back in the main hall for a final demonstration. This time the students were shown how a dog which has completed training, (been a working dog and now retired) would handle a situation if an alarm was sounding. First the door bell, secondly a timer for medicine or perhaps if somebody had something on the hob in the kitchen, and thirdly a fire alarm. The dogs are trained to touch their owners and take them to the source of an alarm, unless it is a fire alarm or emergency, which the dog would respond to by touching the owner and then laying on the floor (sign of danger).

After her demonstration, this volunteer gave a very inspirational talk to the students on just how important drive and passion can be when it comes to building experience and finding jobs.

Facts
• Trainers are known as B&B carers
• 10 volunteers for every one member of paid staff
• 160 members across two sites
• 1,600 volunteers
• 150 matches made a year

One student said she felt so inspired, she instantly felt more confident in herself and her own drive, that she knew what she had to do and where she wanted to go.