TWO WOMEN who regularly walk their dogs on the beach beside Tentsmuir Forest at Tayport have expressed their horror at some of the articles they find either washed up or left lying around on the beach.

The pair, Alison Pattie and Morag Gibson, who are members of an unofficial team of Tayport locals who regularly make attempts to clean up the area, yesterday provided a graphic example of their experiences.

Among items recently found are two syringes, one of them inside a plastic bottle and the other snapped and with no needle.

Alison said they regularly walk their dogs along the shoreline and the area is popular with families with young children.

“There could be real danger for youngsters who pick up this sort of thing, and who knows what damage could be done by used needles,” she said.

“One of our dogs picked the bottle with the syringe inside it, but it could just have easily been a child.”

She added that today and tomorrow the beach area is to be part of an national clean-up effort organised by the Marine Conservation society.

Forestry Commission ranger Bid Strachan will be at the gathering point just beyond Shanwell Road South at the Tayport end of Tentsmuir at 11am.

Volunteers will be supplied with necessary equipment and asked to list their finds on a form.