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Through the project, young researchers from across Scotland have been exploring the environmental issues that matter most to them and their coastal communities. Climate change, marine pollution, ocean wildlife, local history and more are being investigated by young people from Argyll & Bute, Fife, North Berwick, South Ayrshire and the Western Isles through this youth-led research project from YouthLink Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.

The young people are using the tradition of storytelling to pass on their findings far and wide – see below for films sharing research from three of the groups so far.

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Young researchers have been cataloguing plastic pollution to build a picture of the impact it’s having on their local community, and learning about its impacts for marine wildlife.

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Young researchers on the Isle of Barra have been focusing on remote island Mingulay – investigating how life now compares with 100 years ago and recreating a vision of island life at the turn of the 20th centre through working with a local filmmaker.

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Young researchers from Lochgilphead have been focusing on recycling – examining what can and can’t be recycled, and how they – and the local community - can help.

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Find out more about the On Our Wave Length project here

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On Our Wave Length is a youth-led research project exploring environmental impacts on coastal communities. This project is funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund and delivered in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.

Our young researchers are based in Argyll and Bute, Fife, North Berwick, South Ayrshire and the Western Isles. As this is youth-led research they have complete freedom to explore the issues that matter most to them and their communities whether this be climate change, industry, pollution, impacts on wildlife, oceans and so on. They are being supported by experts including Scottish Natural Heritage and Marine Conservation Society as well as finding local advice in their communities.

To ensure the young researcher's findings are shared far and wide they will be filmed storytelling. The tradition of storytelling is that stories are passed on and so through sharing findings in this way will help ensure that their key messages are spread throughout Scotland, hopefully for years to come.

To find the latest updates follow @ OnOurWavelength on Twitter and Instagram .

To learn more about our approach to youth-led research, you can check out our toolkit for engaging young people in heritage.
If you have any questions about On Our Wave Length, or you would like to know how you can get involved, please contact project lead Amy Calder via acalder@youthlinkscotland.org.
Blogs

Meet the groups

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Learning for Sustainability | On Our Wave Length

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On Our Wave Length is a youth-led research project exploring environmental impacts on coastal communities. This project is funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund and delivered in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland. Our young researchers are based in Argyll and Bute, Fife, North Berwick, South Ayrshire and the Western Isles.

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Read a guest blog from John Muir Trust sharing young people’s coasts and waters experiences during 2020, and tips for staying connected through the winter months.

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Lucy Sparks, John Muir Award Scotland Inclusion Manager at John Muir Trust, looks back on Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters and shares some tips for staying connected through the winter months.
"I went rock pooling for the first time. I thought I could never hold an animal - and NOT a starfish - but I did, I was really proud of myself."
John Muir Award participant, South Ayrshire
Wonder, challenge, pride, happiness...At the John Muir Trust, this is exactly the kind of feedback we love to hear about - positive experiences gained from spending time appreciating and caring for wild places.

In a year of many challenges and changes, 2020 is also Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters. Encompassing a diverse range of environments, from back garden ponds, local burns, and windswept coasts, lochs and shores; wherever you are, it's hard not to be drawn to the water. Whether tuning in to the small things on ever-changing beaches, observing pondlife or getting adventurous on or in the water, these special places give fantastic opportunities to explore creativity, curiosity and connections with nature.

Through the year, we've been working collaboratively to help people get involved through a handy list of information, resources, organisations and activities, and we're collecting and celebrating stories of people's connections with all things water-related, highlighting the value placed on accessing coasts and waters for health, adventure, wellbeing, learning and inspiration. Woven through all the stories is a clear passion for engaging with and finding out more about our water environments; and to support youth and education groups to go further, we've been developing a dedicated coasts and waters unit as part of our STEM By Nature professional learning programme (coming soon to our website).

Young people's determined actions for coasts and waters, as seen through the On Our Wave Length project and engagement initiatives such as the Trust's John Muir Award, are helping to drive real change. Across the country, young people demonstrate their power to be a force of change in protecting and enhancing wild places and tackling issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. From beach cleans, canal clear ups and pond restoration, to collecting valuable data for coastal citizen science surveys and campaigning on issues such as marine pollution and single use plastics - the collective impact is significant.

The challenges of Covid-19 restrictions have shone a spotlight on just how important our wild places are, with people and communities making the most of nearby nature and continuing to work towards a more sustainable future. To help continue connections with Scotland's coasts and waters through the shorter, colder winter days - whether as part of youth group outdoor activities or with friends and family - we've shared some simple ideas below that can help anyone to make a splash.

Where's your local bluespace? From coastlines and rivers, to ponds and small burns, if you're able to get out and about safely, why not wrap up warm and take a walk to visit. Spot signs of wildlife or seasonal changes; try sketching something that catches your eye; or simply drink in the view, sounds and weather.

No nearby bluespace or can't get out and about? Why not get creative. Take a different perspective on a puddle to photograph a sunrise in its reflection; or try an online interactive experience to virtually visit a water environment - such as exploring The Deep Sea or Sounds of Your Park.

Take action - We can all be a force for positive change. Could you be a citizen scientist, remove litter, or lend your voice to marine campaigns? Download the Scotland's Coasts and Waters get involved guide for some ideas, apps and links to help you get started; or find a Marine Conservation Society campaign that you feel passionate about.

Change something - whether big or small, making sustainable lifestyle choices are an important part of the societal shift we need to help us all better balance the relationship between people and planet. Try the Goodlife Goals for personal interpretations of how to put the Sustainable Development Goals into action in everyday life.

Inspire others - Chatting to friends and family, telling your stories and sharing your connections and actions via blogs, vlogs and more are all great ways to start conversations, amplify important issues and widen your impact. Search #YCW2020 on social media to see what others are up to as part of Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters.

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Lucy Sparks, John Muir Award Scotland Inclusion Manager at John Muir Trust, looks back on Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters and shares some tips for staying connected through the winter months. "I went rock pooling for the first time.

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Hannah, a Mountaineering and Mountain Bike Instructor based in Aviemore, tells us of the joys and challenges of ice climbing.

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At Glasgow Science Centre, we love exploring the science of everything, including water and here are some interesting facts about H₂0 and Scotland.

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See below for 3 inspiring examples of how people can engage with science with GSC through water.

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Learn with Abi about the tremendous life of sea turtles and ocean biodiversity. Make your own origami turtle friend as our #BigBiodiversityWeek continues on #GSCAtHome.

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In this stunning demonstration for #GSCAtHome, CJ will show you how you can amaze your friends and family with the awesome properties of water and change its state almost instantly from supercool to solid.

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In this episode of GSC at Home, we’re going to be putting our hard hats on, and delving deep into caves and caverns, as we talk about stalactites with James!

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Christina's love of beach combing and the art it inspires.

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Guest author artist Christina Riley records her lockdown experience by sharing 'little sources of wonder' from her daily coastal walks
"I photograph things I want to look at a little longer." - Gunnie Moberg
We're incredibly lucky in Scotland that no matter where we are in the country, the coast is never that far away. As an artist I'm inspired by the sea - through photography, drawing and plant pressings I try to put water onto paper, attempting to make the intangible tangible.

Anyone who's seen the setting sun tuck itself into Scotland's west coast at night knows the colour palette of land, sky and sea can change several times in a matter of seconds and truthfully, a still image will never do it justice (nor even would a moving one). Nothing can rouse as much wonder as standing at the shoreline looking out across the water, while the increasingly strange world gently washes away behind you. But, as Eliza Brightwen says in More About Wild Nature, futile as the task may be it is always worth trying to describe a beautiful scene to another who wasn't there to see it: "... if only for the increased power of appreciation of all succeeding sunsets which will be the sure result of even the feeblest attempt at word painting. "

Water never moves the same way twice, sunlight turns its surface into diamonds and the boundary between land and sea is constantly played with by the tide, turning it into a mysterious, unfixed place. And the colours! Lichen lighting rocks on fire and all the remarkable things the tide brings - shells and pebbles besprinkle the sand like birthday cake. A casual stroll along the coast might simply present dunes, sand and water in that order, but look down and the ground begins to unravel into an entire universe scattered beneath your feet. Lifetime upon lifetime washes up on top of each other in tiny fragments; it's impossible to look at it all in just one, but one is all we have.

When it became clear that we'd have to go into lockdown, I was scared. Even just a few consecutive days indoors sinks my head into a fog, aching not with pain but like two unyielding palms cupped around my brain, as if trying to deflate it through a pinprick puncture. I become irritable and anxieties begin to slip into place really quite quickly, one common manifestation for me being debilitating hypochondria. During a global pandemic I knew I had to keep two steps ahead of that rearing its horrifying head again. I had to get as much fresh air and Vitamin D, even if filtered through clouds, as I could possibly soak up. So from my incredibly fortunate position with the sea on my doorstep, I took myself on a short, government sanctioned beach walk.

I love beachcombing, so I've learned. The world is small and still at sand level, with my entire vision taken up by tiny grains. Ducking beneath the wind the air becomes quiet like a heavy curtain has dropped around me, and all of a sudden the world has flipped inside out and I'm in this bubble where everything is new and calling for attention. In those initial beach walks I picked up a few pebbles and shells that caught my eye and once home, sat them all together on a piece of white paper, creating a snapshot of what the beach looked like that day. I posted the photo on Twitter and Instagram, as you do.

As a way of holding myself accountable for getting outside every day I decided to make these beach snapshots a daily ritual, each photograph a diary entry for what the beach looked like that day. I found therapeutic pleasure in forming the collections - fixating on the small, focusing on shapes and colours that fit together like puzzle pieces, contemplating what to add and what to take away, testing what angle best shows a pebble's texture or a shell's colour. Not to mention the excitement of finding the rarer curiosities - painted ceramic door handles, horse teeth and unidentified bones, mermaid's purses (four so far) and a Pall Mall clay pipe.
"The tedium makes her ecstatic. She calls it the science paradox. It's the most brain crushing work a person can do, yet it can spring the mind enough to see what else but the mind is really out there." - The Overstory, Richard Powers
I'm amazed on a daily basis with how different the same small beach can look. Each afternoon showcases its own colour theme and has me wondering if it's the beach or my mind determining the palette. One day when a low sun glides horizontally across the sand, beach glass flashes like lighthouses along the shore. The next day it's all pebbles, earthy browns and reds and white shells turned a vivid orange by rusty water streaming from pipes in the dunes. Certain artefacts that stand out like a sore thumb - the right colour, but not quite the right shape, to be a venus or cockle shell - are fragments of ceramic pots. I've now reached a point where I hold my breath to flip them over, revealing the colour of whatever's painted on the other side (or sigh at an empty canvas). The treasures are endless - every night I go to sleep and the tide comes in, gathers up the day's display and in the morning presents a new one.

I wouldn't say that it's any more crucial now than before to appreciate our vital coasts and waters; I think whatever was important to us before is illuminated that much brighter in these uncertain days when we face the real possibility of losing what we thought would be there forever. There are a lot of people who during this pandemic don't have the luxury of free time, who might want nothing more than one moment to just walk on the beach, and it isn't my place to tell anyone that they should be using this time to go beachcombing or ask themselves if they're thinking about the sea enough. Right now, above all, our health is the most important thing. That might include fresh air and a walk along the beach, or it might not.

In The Living Mountain Nan Shepherd says: "So back one climbs, to the sources". Right now this is our health, communication, community and kindness. My beach collections have sparked conversations online with people across the world - Paris, Orkney, New Delhi and Oregon, Aberdeenshire, Berlin, Swansea and Benbecula - and I look forward to these as much as the walks. Some people share their own beach finds or help with identifying mystery items, one day I was pointed in the direction of Shark Trust UK to record my mermaid purses in their citizen scientist egg case hunt! (Which reminds me that I have two more to let them know about.)

We're all doing what we can to help, which for most of us is to do nothing at all. Stay home, take care of ourselves and our loved ones in whatever ways we safely can and, wherever possible, find little sources of wonder. I find mine on the beach and am, as always, more grateful for the coast than I'll ever be able to communicate to it, for giving me what I need before I knew I needed it.

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Guest author artist Christina Riley records her lockdown experience by sharing 'little sources of wonder' from her daily coastal walks "I photograph things I want to look at a little longer." - Gunnie Moberg We're incredibly lucky in Scotland that no matter where we are in the country, the coast is never that far away.

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To see more of Christina's work you can follow her Twitter account through the link below.

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Don’t miss what’s happening

People on Twitter are the first to know.

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In Naomi's story we hear about her love of the cold sea water and the wonderful effect it has on her wellbeing.

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Inspiring and educating people about Scotland's marine environment.

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For information, resources and activity ideas to help you celebrate the Year of Coasts and Waters, follow the link below for our free download.

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Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters 2020 is an opportunity to highlight the nature, history and culture of shorelines and waterways.

Coasts and Waters are places to feel good, be healthy, be curious, be inspired and be creative. They are places where we can think about, and act on, bigger picture matters too - such as biodiversity, sustainability, climate, and our place in the world. Celebrate their potential for learning and adventure, their value as a resource, and their aesthetic inspiration.

Join the conversation on social media #YCW2020. Visit Year of Coasts & Waters 2020 VisitScotland website.

Get Involved (free download) - information, resources, organisations and activities - ideas and links to help you get involved... Starting points for finding out and doing things - dive in!

We're involved! Coming soon - stories celebrating the many people, places, activities and links made with Scotland's Coasts and Waters during 2020.

Year of Coasts & Waters 2020 Collaboration - these resources and stories have been produced through a unique partnership of:

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Year of Coasts and Waters 2020 - Get Involved

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Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters 2020 is an opportunity to highlight the nature, history and culture of shorelines and waterways. Coasts and Waters are places to feel good, be healthy, be curious, be inspired and be creative.

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Scottish Seabird Centre Year of Coasts and Waters 2020

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Emily Hague tells us all about her adventures searching for Killer Whales in Shetland.

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Emily Hague kayak Credit On the killer whale trail facebook page

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On The Killer Whale Trail, What do Scotland's coasts and waters mean to me

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Check out Emily's first encounter with Scottish Killer Whales through this amazing drone footage, posted on the Killer Whale Trail Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/onthekillerwhaletrail/

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😍🐳😁 Our first encounter with Scottish killer whales!!! 😍🐳😁

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An online celebration of National Marine Week and reopening of the Scottish Seabird Centre! Join in the sea-themed fun wherever you are with this collection of free digital resources for all the family.