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Shark surveyors, tanker crash clean-up volunteers and young stars honoured for saving our seas

Marine heroes celebrated for going the extra nautical mile at Marsh Awards

A beach cleaning team in Lincolnshire, shark monitors in Lancashire and several bright stars of the future have been recognised at the Marsh Volunteer Awards for Marine Conservation today, 30th July.

A partnership between The Wildlife Trusts and The Marsh Charitable Trust, the Marsh Volunteer Awards for Marine Conservation recognise the amazing work Wildlife Trust volunteers carry out to help save our seas. 

The online awards ceremony took place on 30th July, as part of National Marine Week – The Wildlife Trusts annual celebration of UK seas.

Marsh Volunteer Award for Marine Conservation

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's beach clean volunteers: Joint winner

In March this year the Lincolnshire beach clean volunteers faced an exceptional challenge when an oil tanker and a cargo ship collided in the North Sea, presenting a serious threat to wildlife. 

Responding to an urgent call for assistance, they cleared up large quantities of burnt plastic materials and ‘nurdles’ at Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve – protecting a breeding colony of little terns. They were nominated by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.

Paul Chibeba, Head of Public Engagement & Communications at Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, says: “The race was on to get the beach cleaned before the nesting birds returned. The problem with plastic nurdles, apart from potentially carrying toxic chemicals, is that they looked a lot like fish eggs, which the birds would very likely try to eat.”

A group of volunteers cleaning a beach, using litter pickers. They are spread across the coastline, into the distance, with the sea lapping against the beach

Volunteers cleaning beaches north of Chapel St Leonards © Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

A large pile of refuse bags filled with waste collected from a beach clean. Next to the bags is a pile of litter pickers. The sea can be seen in the distance.

Debris gathered after beach clean Chapel St Leonards © Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

Lancashire Wildlife Trust's The Bay group in Wyre - shark and ray egg surveying: Joint winner

This extraordinary volunteer group helped the Shark Trust reach its milestone of counting over half a million shark, skate and ray egg cases. 

Over the last few years, The Bay group in Wyre has taken top-spot for records, counting a whopping 17,989 egg cases in 2024 – this a staggering 30% of the whole UK records! This all helps gain a better understanding of the presence and diversity of these egg-laying species in British waters and beyond. 

Special mentions went to Carol and Owen Fawcett for their remarkable efforts.

A group of volunteers huddle around a table with a shark and ray eggcase identification guide and some eggcases

Lancashire Wildlife Trust The Bay volunteer group identifying egg cases collected from a survey

Seven volunteers from Lancashire Wildlife Trust's The Bay group searching the shoreline for eggcases

Lancashire Wildlife Trust The Bay volunteer group searching the shoreline for eggcases

A table filled with shark and ray empty eggcases with a person comparing them to an identification guide

Shark and ray eggcase identification by Lancashire Wildlife Trust The Bay volunteer group

Marsh Young Volunteer Award for Marine Conservation

Faced with such an impressive cohort of nominees, the judges chose two winners for the Marsh Young Volunteer Award for Marine Conservation, both from the North Wales Wildlife Trust. 

Oscar Basu smiles at the camera, wearing a North Wales Wildlife Trust branded high-vis with a cuddly toy badger perched on his shoulder

Oscar Basu © North Wales Wildlife Trust

Oscar Basu, North Wales Wildlife Trust: Joint winner

Endless enthusiasm, in-depth knowledge and a dedication to mentoring his younger peers earned Ocean Rescue Champion Oscar his win.

Over the past year, Oscar has volunteered more than 100 hours for North Wales Wildlife Trust, helping with fieldwork such as seagrass planting and as an excellent representative of the Trust at public events. 

He is an incredible role model and mentor to the younger Ocean Rescue Champions, and the impact he has had on the group has not gone unnoticed.

Anna Williams stands on a beach, in waterproof clothing and wellies, during one of her volunteer sessions

Anna Williams © North Wales Wildlife Trust

Anna Williams, North Wales Wildlife Trust: Joint winner

Another Ocean Rescue Champion, Anna has become an ambassador for seagrass, taking part in everything from seed collection to planting and even speaking to politicians ahead of COP16. 

Reliable, dedicated and always ready to help, Anna is keen to help spread the message about the importance of seagrass and contributed an excellent article to the North Wales Wildlife Trust’s summer magazine.

Both young volunteers have grown in confidence over the past year and share a passion for sharing their knowledge and inspiring others about marine conservation. 

Nancy Nenning, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, was also highly commended. 14-year old Nancy keeps a detailed record of stranded animals, and for the past two years been an outstanding callout volunteer with Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Marine Strandings Network.

The Marsh Charitable Trust said:

“We are pleased to be working with The Wildlife Trusts once again this year to present the Marsh Volunteer Awards for Marine Conservation. Since 2014, we have celebrated volunteers’ commitment to the protection of the seas and marine wildlife. We would like to congratulate this year’s winners and look forward to learning more about the invaluable contributions they are making to their local environments and Trusts.”

The Wildlife Trusts are holding events around the UK, Alderney and Isle of Man for National Marine Week. There’s plenty to get involved with, even if you can’t get to the coast. 

Editor's notes

The Wildlife Trusts are making the world wilder and helping to ensure that nature is part of everyone’s lives. We are a grassroots movement of 46 charities with more than 910,000 members and 39,000 volunteers. No matter where you are in Britain, there is a Wildlife Trust inspiring people and saving, protecting and standing up for the natural world. With the support of our members, we care for and restore over 2,600 special places for nature on land and run marine conservation projects and collect vital data on the state of our seas. Every Wildlife Trust works within its local community to inspire people to create a wilder future – from advising thousands of landowners on how to manage their land to benefit wildlife, to connecting hundreds of thousands of school children with nature every year. www.wildlifetrusts.org 

The Marsh Charitable Trust celebrates people at the heart of the charity sector who voluntarily or professionally go above and beyond to make a difference to social, cultural and environmental causes. 

The Marsh Charitable Trust was founded in 1981 with the aim of creating a sustainable way to give something back to society, by supporting the organisations and people who are making a difference.

From the outset the Trust has aimed to create long-standing relationships with the organisations it supports and partners through both its principle areas of work; the Grants Programme and the Awards Scheme. The Trust supports around 400 charities every year through the Grants Programme and gives around 100 different Awards to individuals and groups from across the charity sector, who make a difference to a cause that they believe in.

Nudibranch ©Dan Bolt

Nudibranch ©Dan Bolt

Dive into National Marine Week

Go along to an event or learn about our seas and how you can protect them this National Marine Week!

Find out more about National Marine Week

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