To take pebbles from the beach?

[DarylDixonsHair]

Is it allowed? I'd like to put some borders around my flowers beds so need about 20 - 30 medium sized ones. I wouldn't take them all in one go, probably a handful at a time while dog walking.

Just wanted to check I'm not breaking the law/endangering the planet/taking the piss.

Someone taking a bag of pebbles from the beach, or the odd dog-walker or child taking some driftwood or rocks, is not a major concern, in my humble opinion

Are you a marine scientist? Because they say it actually is a problem, and therefore your humble opinion is of little interest.

People who think its ok to take pebbles from the beach are the same people who let their kids pick flowers in parks and flush tampons. They don't know how their "small, insignificant" actions add up and affect everyone, and they don't care.
They're the people who tell us we're overeacting about climate change as well. Guess what, we're under-reacting. Get up to date.

@GoJoe2020 🤣🤣🤣 behave yourself.

Are you a marine scientist? Because they say it actually is a problem, and therefore your humble opinion is of little interest

Oh yeah? Let's see the evidence of that then, go on.

Theft to collect shells on a beach! Behave yourself please.

Surely it's fairly obvious that there's a difference between a child taking a pebble or a shell from a nice day out and an adult planning to repeatedly fill their pockets to do their garden because they don't want to buy gardening materials?

OP the fact you're planning on taking a few at a time on various walks rather than walk into the beach, fill a bag and openly carry it home probably suggests you know it's unreasonable.

It might be against the law, but it seems the pettiest, most ridiculous thing to argue over. Better to save anger for massive companies scooping up sackfuls of the stuff to sell to the same people you're telling off for enjoying the feel of a piece of driftwood in their hand on the rare occasion they can get to the seaside once a year.

But nobody is saying don’t enjoy it when you’re there - we’re saying leave it where it’s needed and just because you want it means nothing.

Do you recycle?

@picklemewalnuts brilliant

At least modern people aren't hacking 5 tonne stones out of the ground and dragging them miles and miles away to balance on top of each other in a gigantic landmark of greed and destruction, eh?

Well HS2 isn't far off that. The only difference is the stone is hacked, ground to powder, pumped as sludge to reset again as concrete sleepers or bridge pieces. Then you have the ballast.

@GoJoe2020

Someone taking a bag of pebbles from the beach, or the odd dog-walker or child taking some driftwood or rocks, is not a major concern, in my humble opinion

Are you a marine scientist? Because they say it actually is a problem, and therefore your humble opinion is of little interest.

People who think its ok to take pebbles from the beach are the same people who let their kids pick flowers in parks and flush tampons. They don't know how their "small, insignificant" actions add up and affect everyone, and they don't care.
They're the people who tell us we're overeacting about climate change as well. Guess what, we're under-reacting. Get up to date.

I honestly don’t know why you’re getting so much grief. Its unbelievably stupid not to recognise the small acts we do now - reusing carrier bags, recycling, reducing waste - have a massive impact on our planet.

Who knew it would be so controversial to say ‘stop doing that damaging thing just because you want to do it’. It’s like an argument you have with a toddler.

Richard Harrington, MCS Head of Communications, says: “.... some beaches have particularly irresistible pebbles, and some are especially prone to erosion. Taking bags full of shingle or large boulders home in the boot of your car to help build a rockery is a definite no-no. Under the Coastal Protection Act 1949, it is actually illegal to take beach materials without a licence. Stones and sand on a beach tend to protect the coast behind it from erosion and flooding during storms. So, the saying “take only memories, leave only footprints” is generally a good one - and taking photos with phones and cameras is easier than ever these days, too.”

MCS is Marine Conservation Society.

Everyone laughing at the very idea of it being illegal...it IS illegal, whether you find that amusing or not.

www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/lifestyle/outdoors/can-you-take-pebbles-beach-uk-laws-explained-stacey-solomon-jokes-she-could-be-arrested-2932664

£1,000 fine. Is that funny?

Every day is a learning day with Mumsnet. I never knew I was a hardened criminal with my pebble painting and driftwood art :) I collect sticks when I'm out dogwalking too; dry them out and use for kindling.

Might try a bank job next since I'm already on the slippery slope!

Stones-4-Scones

Its my new idea. I and others with similar culinary skills as my own, bake a backpack of scones before we go to Devon and Cornwall. I exchange my indestructible scones for a pebble of an equal size - no less and no more. That way I have zero net beach reduction. My scones are rock hard. Even the seagulls do not like them.

ts unbelievably stupid not to recognise the small acts we do now - reusing carrier bags, recycling, reducing waste - have a massive impact on our planet

Unfortunately, there are a lot of unbelievably stupid people around. Oh, a few pebbles don't matter, I don't need to recycle all of it, its only cigarette butts on the ground, it's only me, I don't understand that it adds up when everyone does it....So much stupid.

I need to report my 9 year old to the police , she stole 2 shells last time we were at the seaside , 2!
Ffs

Shells aren't the problem, pebbles are. Though technically it is illegal to take shells, it's not about the law but about actual damage caused. Are you struggling to follow? Do you need a diagram of some kind?
I'm sure there are some blunt crayons around you could use.

This really doesn't make sense on the scale we're talking. Nature redistributes stuff around naturally - leaves blow everywhere, the sea itself redistributes cliffs into pebbles. It's not like it's some finite resource. You look anywhere in history, people have used resources from other places, for their usefulness or their beauty.

Of course noone should be doing anything big or industrial, but seriously, comparing putting a pebble in your garden/on your windowsill to dropping carcinogenic materials, or not recycling is ridiculous. Perhaps it's not the very best behaviour to move things, but on a tiny scale it is tiny and really not something to get het up about when there's so much worse to focus on changing first.

Does anyone else now really need to see GoJoe's blunt crayoned diagramme?

@duffeldaisy

This really doesn't make sense on the scale we're talking. Nature redistributes stuff around naturally - leaves blow everywhere, the sea itself redistributes cliffs into pebbles. It's not like it's some finite resource. You look anywhere in history, people have used resources from other places, for their usefulness or their beauty.

Of course noone should be doing anything big or industrial, but seriously, comparing putting a pebble in your garden/on your windowsill to dropping carcinogenic materials, or not recycling is ridiculous. Perhaps it's not the very best behaviour to move things, but on a tiny scale it is tiny and really not something to get het up about when there's so much worse to focus on changing first.

It really does make sense on this scale. Look at how many people on this thread have boasted about taking buckets of stuff from beaches, or how they always take stones when they’re passing a river.

It’s exactly the same as the idea behind recycling. It’s everyone doing a tiny insignificant thing to make a massive difference. So if nobody, ever, took stones from the beach we would reduce coastal damage.

A few stones from the local beach is a slippery slope OP.

Before you know it, you’ll be addicted to crack and stealing mascara from the body shop.

Are there a lot of climate change deniers on this thread?

Does anyone else now really need to see GoJoe's blunt crayoned diagramme?

I would prefer a pie chart, disaggregating the various factors that are involved in coastal erosion. I am not certain a diagram will provide the answers I am looking for.

As I own land beside the river apparently I own the pebbles on the riverbed. I assume this how garden centres end up with river pebbles? Surely that causes the erosion and then they sell them to the beach keepers to combat erosion. They should ban the mining of rivers for stones before going after people picking up pebbles?

I need a crayon diagram! definitely