White powder sent to US laboratory after granules wash up on beach between Filey and Bempton cliffs
In recent weeks the Yorkshire coast has played host to a dead whale and a second world war hand grenade. on Thursday, millions of sweetener-sized white granules swept up, closing a three-mile stretch of sand for the day, ahead of the bank holiday weekend.
"It's been fun and games all day," said Christine Mitchell who runs a cafe at Hunmanby Gap, where three fire tenders and police and coastguard vans sealed off the narrow defile leading down to the beach.
Up in the 50p car park, her husband, Horace, emerged from his cabin: "If you go down to the beach, they'll stop you, will the coppers," he said. Sure enough, a friendly cordon redirected hikers along the clifftop path.
"There were shoals of the things," said Tim Whitehead who lives at one of the hamlet's half-dozen cottages and got down to the foreshore before it was shut. "They were like little pellets, masses and masses of them.'
Subsequent drama saw samples of the material, which formed a powdery white slick among strands of seaweed, defy testing by police and environmental specialists. Inspector Leo Suret, of North Yorkshire police, said: "They are all along the high tide mark so they've obviously come from the sea, but we have absolutely no idea how they got there. Our primary concern is public safety, both for the people and animals, and we want to make sure that nobody is going to be harmed."
Samples were sent to analysts in the US, but a British forensic laboratory has concluded that the plastic-like scraps, which did not dissolve in seawater, pose no danger. Hunmanby beach and nearby Primrose Valley have reopened, and no precautions are being taken at Cayton and Scarborough's north bay, where small patches of the pellets drifted ashore later.
The head of environmental services for Scarborough borough council, Andy Skelton, said: "The source is not yet known but it appears to be a hydrocarbon salt commonly used in detergents and lubricants. Cleansing staff have worked hard to remove as much of the product as possible at Hunmanby this afternoon. We're obviously pleased to have determined the product is non toxic and we will continue to monitor the situation over the coming bank holiday weekend."
Hunmanby Gap lies on the "wrecks coast" between Filey and Britain's largest seabird reserve at Bempton Cliffs, which has seen centuries of curious offerings from the North Sea.
The most remarkable was the hauling of a generator up the rock face from a submarine that ran aground in 1921. Helped by "climmers", who made a living shinning down ropes to take seabirds' eggs for collectors, a salvage expert installed the generator in a local engineering factory, which it powered, along with two nearby houses. The rest of Hunmanby did not have electric light until 1931.
Mitchell and her assistant, Irene Artley, said that everyone hoped for sight-seers once the beach reopened. She said: "We're getting used to it, what with the hand grenade last week and the dead whale."Leeds stonemason Ian Whitfield and his wife Angelique, turned away from the shore while on a cycling and caravan holiday, were not complaining. Ian said: "We didn't know that Hunmanby had a Gap, down to the beach, 'till we read about all this happening. So there's a silver lining."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/28/mystery-granules-close-yorkshire-beach
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