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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To take pebbles from the beach?

353 replies

DarylDixonsHair · 25/05/2020 15:02

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.

OP posts:
RandomLondoner · 25/05/2020 17:36

I think river beds, sea bed excavation and quarries.

I have a vague recollection of googling this once, and find that smooth pebbles sold in garden centres are manufactured by tumbling broken up rock to simulate natural erosion.

(I don't care enough to google again and check if I'm right.)

jugglingbeans · 25/05/2020 18:09

Taking shells is not theft under the 1949 act. It is permissible to remove shells from the beach if they are empty shells. The act prohibits the removal of minerals - i.e. sand, stone, rocks etc.

There is separate specific legislation for some beaches, e.g. the fossil rich beaches in Dorset and other sites of scientific interest.

Ginfordinner · 25/05/2020 18:14

Ignore the posters saying it is OK. They clearly have no regard for the environment. It is illegal. End of.

And the "what if everyone were to do this" is not a lame argument Hmm

daisypond · 25/05/2020 18:15

You can take sea glass, though.

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 25/05/2020 18:21

Yes buy some from a garden centre that have picked them from a beach painted them but then in a bag and charge you for doing so must be better for the costal environment 🙄

I think if half the country went down to Brighton and took a few pebbles each it wouldn’t make a dent on the beach

daisypond · 25/05/2020 18:24

Garden centres don’t get them from beaches - that would be illegal.

DamitJanet · 25/05/2020 18:30

Please don’t. I know people are taking the piss but it really does contribute to coastal erosion, which is a massive issue in some areas. No of course one person taking 20 isn’t going to cause the cliff to cave in, but the cumulative effect does cause really problems.

CherryPavlova · 25/05/2020 18:39

It’s a criminal offence under the Coastal Protection Act 1949.
You can be fined up to £1,000 for a first offence.

It risks increasing coastal erosion and is morally wrong as well as legally. A child picking a special, pretty, shell is ok. An adult taking them to save buying a bag is very much not OK.

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 25/05/2020 18:48

So where do they get them from ?

They are then polished (had one of these machines as a child - have no idea why it was electric) then they are painted and put in a plastic bag to sell oh and they are transported- hardly great for the environment

vanillandhoney · 25/05/2020 18:51

So where do they get them from?

Quarries.

Do you really think garden centres send people down to the beach under the cover of darkness to steal pebbles?!

Lostvoiced · 25/05/2020 18:53

Oh wow I had no idea!

I always go looking for hag stones at the seaside! I've never taken more than one a trip, though.

I feel so bad! How did I not know this?

Is taking sea glass okay?

Is collecting hagstones from rivers ok?

Destroyedpeople · 25/05/2020 18:54

What's a hag stone?

Lostvoiced · 25/05/2020 19:01

A hag stone is a stone with a natural hole in it. I think they also have other names.

It's a superstition that you can see fairies or see through magic spells by looking through one.

Destroyedpeople · 25/05/2020 19:09

Oh yes those. ..for some reason there are loads on Brighton beach we used to collect them. Had no idea it was illegal. ..

grumpyorange · 25/05/2020 19:19
EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 25/05/2020 19:20

No haven’t given it any thought

the preparation for selling them is hardly environmentally friendly

EggysMom · 25/05/2020 19:24

They have been collected over ten years and not three weeks

1Morewineplease · 25/05/2020 19:35

Most garden centres sell them and usually come from somewhere that can cope with the demand.
If everyone just helped themselves to one or to , it could really impact on the local ecology.

If you’re looking to get a couple of pebbles for your children to paint and leave out, then don’t... go to a garden centre that sells reputable pebbles.

daisypond · 25/05/2020 19:37

@Lostvoiced

Sea glass is OK to take, because it’s not natural.

byebyebeautiful · 25/05/2020 19:46

Call 111!

00100001 · 25/05/2020 19:49

Uh oh ... We take a pebble from the beach every time we visit....they have to have hole and, are threaded onto some rope, and hang on our shed wall.... Whoops

user1635482648 · 25/05/2020 19:51

I think if half the country went down to Brighton and took a few pebbles each it wouldn’t make a dent on the beach

You think 100 million missing pebbles wouldn't be noticeable? Hmm

msmith501 · 25/05/2020 19:53

You are breaking the law and indeed in Whitby last year I personally witnessed the police asking people to drop the large pebbles / stones they had collected to take home.

GreyGardens88 · 25/05/2020 19:53

Honestly just do it OP, just take a few nice ones at a time. No one cares apart from a few busy bodies

msmith501 · 25/05/2020 20:29

Nothing to do with busy bodies . .. until recently building companies were allowed to remove sand from beeches. As a result the beeches and the cliffs are now eroding and no one is now legally allowed to remove quantities of sand etc. That has nothing to do with busy bodies and a lot to do with intelligence and common sense, especially if you live near a beech.