On This Day in Wembury — 22 May 1990
The Evening Herald carried reports on the aftermath of an oil spill that had reached the shores of Wembury and Bigbury Bays. Scientists from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory confirmed that some animal deaths on the beaches were unavoidable but insisted that Wembury’s Nature Reserve was unlikely to suffer serious long-term ecological harm. Marine toxicologist Peter Donkin noted that oil had sunk deep into the sands at Wembury and Mothecombe, and while this might take time to flush out, tidal action would eventually disperse it. He admitted that children digging in the sand had already unearthed patches of oil, but reassured that “nothing I could see on the beaches at Wembury would indicate a massive loss of marine life.”
The incident became part of a long-running pattern in Wembury’s history, where the bay’s beauty and popularity — from school nature trips to birdwatching and coastal walks — sit alongside its vulnerability to forces beyond local control. Earlier generations worried about development on the cliffs or wartime risks from mines and shells; in 1990 the enemy was industrial pollution. Each event seems to renew the sense that Wembury’s shoreline is both fragile and fiercely valued, and that its preservation demands vigilance not only from locals but from wider institutions too.
Source: Evening Herald, 22 May 1990