Thousands of pink bottles wash up on Cornwall beach

Thousands of bright pink plastic bottles have washed up on a beach in Cornwall.

Volunteers are clearing the 2,000 detergent bottles from Poldhu Beach, on the Lizard, as they pose a potential risk to wildlife.

Further bottles are expected to wash up in the area today, the National Trust said.

Cornwall Council is urging people to keep children and dogs away from the bottles, some of which are foaming.

A spokeswoman said: "Cornwall Council has been made aware of reports of plastic bottles washed up on Poldhu Beach.

"The National Trust, who own the beach, have arranged for the bottles to be cleared away.

"The council and partners, including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Natural England, will be monitoring beaches in the area and will follow up on any further reports.

"In the meantime the public are advised to keep children and dogs at a safe distance from the bottles should any more be washed up.

"No attempt should be made to recover the bottles."

Ross Hocking, owner of the Poldhu Beach cafe, said up to 3,000 bottles had washed up on Poldhu beach since Sunday - with more surfacing every minute.

The 30-year-old said: "I think they will be coming in for months. The way the wind and tide is going, it will be a long time before they stop completely coming in.

"I am pretty sure they have fallen off some container ship - the National Trust are looking into finding out exactly where they are from.

"They are completely unbranded, detergent-like bottles which are pink.

"Every minute more are turning up. It's a bit annoying really, but lots of people have been helping."

He added that the Friends of Poldhu group was organising a beach clean-up on Friday and urged beach-lovers to attend.

The bottles have been spotted on many of the other beaches along the Lizard Peninsula but most have surfaced at Poldhu, Mr Hocking said.

"We get rubbish daily - the vast majority of which is marine waste - but in terms of quantity of the same, this is the worst we have had in a while. Because we are on the point of the Lizard we get affected more."

Other unusual flotsam that has previously washed up on the beach includes millions of Lego pieces in the '90s, and a large number number of lighters, he said.