Nurdles:

are tiny (about 5mm diameter) plastic pellets. They're the raw materials of plastic production. They melt these down to make all kinds of things and are how plastics are transported in the pre-production stage due to them taking up little space but also being easy to handle.

Sadly they are also a major contributor to marine pollution and are particularly harmful to wildlife (they are ingested and block up the stomach, reducing the space for digestion resulting in starvation). They also have the ability to attract 'micro-pollutants which can then enter the food chain after ingestion by marine life. The main trouble with Nurdles is that they are almost impossible to clear from beaches or the sea. It has been estimated that they constitute somewhere in the region of 98% of all pollution on our beaches. Not surprisingly they take a very long time to bio-degrade.

These particular ones are presently on the beach at Kimmeridge and are suspected to have come from the Napoli when she shed containers further west in the channel. The effects of any disaster at sea can reverberate for many years............