The preschool children of Salcombe have taken to the beach after being inspired by Sir David Attenborough.

The group of young children from Salcombe preschool collected two sackfuls of rubbish in just thirty minutes from Soar Mill Cove during their beach cleaning trip.

Many of the children had been inspired by the recent BBC Blue Planet II series. This time they had learnt about the life and health of our seas and the devastating impact of plastic pollution on marine species.

The National Trust provided litter pickers for the children to use. They found tiny polystyrene balls, almost too many to pick up, but they managed to fill two large bags with plastic refuse.

Many of the youngsters had already learnt about the need to stop using single-use plastic products from the continuing ‘plastic clever’ campaign in Salcombe.

When they returned to the classroom, the children were able to look more closely at some of the objects they had removed from the beach and talk about how these items could effect the wildlife along the coast.