A monstrous visitation

The Cragen hove into view around the headland as crowds waited on shore. It headed straight for the beach where it spewed out a fishing net filled with plastic debris and appealed for us humans to clean up the marine environment

The Cragen, based on a legendary sea monster and  itself constructed out of waste materials, is appearing all up and down the Welsh coast this summer to communicate the plight of the oceans and the  damage done to sea life by what we throw away.

Later, there was a showing of The Islands and the Whales, a film about the Faroe Islanders traditional diet of pilot whales and seabirds which is central to their challenging way of life.  The threat is not so much from the environmentalists whose puny efforts to stop the slaughter are simply swept aside, but from the dangers of mercury poisoning to those who consume whale meat - and this includes the children. Old timers brush aside these concerns but younger people, women especially, are more conflicted. There is a certain irony in the fact that marine pollution may be what spares the whales from being killed by the Faroese. If you get a chance, do see this film. It's outstanding.