If you carry it in, carry it home

Every morning, Lyra and I head out for a walk. If you’ve ever spotted a red fox Labrador proudly emerging from the River Great Ouse carrying a plastic bottle, you’ve probably seen us.

It wasn’t always like this.

These days, I carry a litter bag on almost every walk because I know there’s a good chance we’ll need it. Sometimes Lyra finds the rubbish before I do. She’s become remarkably good at retrieving bottles floating in the water, although last week she found something far more worrying, a supermarket fruit pot that someone had left behind, complete with a splash of beer.

That’s not the kind of refreshment I had planned for our morning walk.

The strange thing is, this isn’t really a story about litter.

It’s a story about love.

Because people don’t travel to our rivers and waterways because they’re ugly. They come because these are beautiful places. They come to swim, paddle, fish, picnic, walk, meet friends or simply enjoy being outdoors. That’s something worth celebrating.

The countryside belongs to all of us, and everyone should feel welcome to enjoy it.

But enjoying somewhere also means caring for it.

Recently, I’ve noticed more discarded bottles, cans, food wrappers and broken glass along one of the popular swimming spots on the Relief Channel. Friends and I often spend the first few minutes of a swim collecting rubbish before we even get into the water.

One morning lately, what looked like an empty cider box turned out to be hiding a used nappy underneath.

That was the moment I found myself asking a simple question.

If everything was carried to the river in the first place, why can’t it be carried home again?

The answer probably isn’t that people don’t care. Perhaps they don’t stop to think. Perhaps there isn’t a suitable bin nearby. Perhaps everyone assumes someone else will deal with it.

But nature doesn’t have a cleaning team.

The plastic bottle left today may still be there months from now. Broken glass becomes a hazard for wildlife, swimmers and dogs alike. What begins as one piece of litter can quickly make a beautiful place feel neglected.

One of the things I love most about Norfolk is that people are rediscovering nature. More families are walking, more people are wild swimming, more children are exploring rivers and woods than perhaps they have for years.

Let’s keep encouraging that.

Let’s just remember that every visit leaves a footprint.

So next time you’re enjoying one of Norfolk’s wonderful rivers, perhaps take one small thing home with you. Better still, if you spot a piece of litter that isn’t yours and it’s safe to do so, pick it up.

Small acts of care have a remarkable way of spreading.

The countryside gives us so much.

Looking after it is one of the simplest ways we can give something back.

Lisa Ashbury is a volunteer trustee with CPRE Norfolk. Most mornings you’ll find her somewhere along a Norfolk footpath with her red fox Labrador, Lyra, usually returning home with muddy boots, a camera full of photographs and occasionally a bag of litter.