NEW Year’s Day found us braving stormy conditions on the beach at West Bexington in Dorset.

Stepping out of the car I was blown backwards, and the rain stung like hail.

The dog, loving the wind in her sails, hared about on the shingle, either rolling in or prancing around with all sorts of unsavoury remains of a fishy nature.

Notable among these was a chunky skull, from which she proceeded to crunch up various bony protuberances, skipping off just out of reach every time I tried to seize it for fear she’d choke (like the Queen Mother!) while my other half, oblivious, was engaged in a fruitless quest for a grey phalarope - that’s a wading bird, but of course you knew that!

It must have heard we were coming and zoomed off to Lyme Regis, where we later learned it had been seen that day.

I confess that despite 36 years of marriage to a keen ornithologist, I still have terrible trouble telling one seabird from another.

‘A grey shape bobbing up and down behind grey waves which are also bobbing up and down’ just about sums up what I see through my binoculars, which are admittedly far inferior to his.

Sadly, what I could see, up close and all around me, stretching away into the distance, was rubbish. Plastic rubbish.

Not chucked about by heedless daytrippers but thrown up by the tide.

We’re all familiar with TV documentaries and news reports about pollution of the oceans, but never have I seen so much disturbing evidence of it on a British beach.

The sea being no respecter of national boundaries, I dare say this junk had been washed halfway round the world by the time it turned up on our beautiful Jurassic Coast. It makes no difference where it came from. The problem is that it doesn’t just go away and break down naturally.

Fortunately, while mankind in general is trashing the planet there are committed individuals who are doing their darndest to create a better future, and among them is Ben Parker of our own River Bourne Community Farm.

As a long-time admirer of Ben’s tireless efforts to transform a grotty, rubbish-strewn piece of Laverstock scrubland into an inspirational educational, wildlife and leisure resource for everyone, I am thrilled that he has been honoured with an MBE.

Well done, whoever put his name forward!

Ben has amassed a dedicated team of helpers, and I’m sure he’ll regard the award as recognition of their work, too.

It’s almost enough to restore one’s faith in the system. Almost - but not quite!

anneriddle36@gmail.com