The headline – ‘Sand, Sea and Sewage’ – could be today’s, but it’s actually from The Observer’s 27 May 1990 deep dive into the sorry state of our seashores. It started with a field trip to the Lancastrian coastline, home to rich natural history and buzzing beach resorts, but also only one beach that reached the minimum standard for sewage bacteria. ‘We do guided shore walks in Morecambe Bay,’ recounted local marine biologist Dr Mark Woombs as he showed the journalist round. ‘And occasionally someone runs up with what they think is a rare plant species, a small, round, green object… Unfortunately, I have to tell them what it actually is – a decomposed turd.’
