Prince William and Princess Kate get their hands dirty at the beach during horizontal rain

The Prince and Princess of Wales took part in a beach litter pick, getting their hands dirty and driving a tractor to help clear refuse in picturesque Ettrick Bay on the Isle of Bute.

On the second stop of their visit to the Hebridean island, William and Kate joined members of Beachwatch Bute, an organisation that has helped keep the island’s beaches free from litter and marine waste for almost 30 years. They walked along the sand with Beach Ranger Sandra Macmillan and supporters of the charity, which has coordinated clean-up activities on Bute since 1998, to keep the coastline safe and accessible for wildlife and local people. 

Armed with litter pickers and recycled farm feed bags to hold the rubbish, they stopped to pick up bits of packaging and rope and used their bare hands to pick up finer plastic filaments from fishing gear as they heard more about the charity’s work.

“It’s frightening how much stuff gets washed up on beaches, because if it’s like this here, it’s doubly bad out there,” said William, gesturing out to sea.

As they made their way down the sands, the royal party met volunteers including Suzy Cumming and her son Isaac, eight, who had found a message in a bottle on the beach moments before the royal visitors arrived. “I hope it’s a nice message,” said the Prince. “I hope it’s not a message for help from someone stuck on an island!”

William and Kate were then shown a tractor and trailer used by the charity and maintained by volunteer mechanic Robery Murray from West Coast Motors, which also stores the vehicles for Beachwatch when not in use.

After being given a quick tutorial by Sandra, William took the wheel, and with Kate giggling alongside him in the cab, drove it down onto the sand and reversed it towards a large plastic mussel buoy that had washed up.

William loves wet weather 

Amid horizontal rain, they climbed out to help roll it onto the back of the tractor before driving it back up off the beach. Before leaving, the Prince and Princess thanked the team for their work, with William paying tribute to Sandra. 

© POOL/AFP via Getty Images

“She’s dedicated to the cause,” he said. He also shrugged off the blustery and wet weather. “This is the best, to me. I love it wild, it’s the best sort of weather.” Admiring the sweeping views, he added: “It’s a stunning scene, beautiful.” 

Princess Kate thanked for her awareness campaigns 

The couple stopped to chat to wellwishers, including a family with a young baby who grinned happily at the royal visitors, and a woman who thanked Kate for her work in early years.

“You’ve done more over the past five years to highlight it than anyone else in my lifetime,” the woman told her. “I’m really passionate about it,” replied Kate. “It’s needed now more than ever.”

Speaking afterwards, Sandra said she felt “honoured” by the visit. “It went really well,” she said, although she thought William’s tractor driving was “a bit slow”.

Beachwatch Bute’s secretary Sue Brooks said she had offered the Princess some gloves, which she turned down. “She said ‘actually, I do this all the time’.” Catherine was “a bit hesitant” to use the litter picker, but instead, “she was in there just picking everything up and saying ‘I’ll get that one’. Yeah, it was great. “It felt like you were just chatting to your pal walking along, so it was lovely.”

© Getty Images

For the past two decades, Sandra, who was described by the group as a “local legend”, has been responsible for keeping around 50 miles of Bute’s coastline clean, with the help of volunteers and a monthly community beach clean.

As well as collecting litter and other refuse, they also dispose of wildlife that washes up along the coast, such as deer, seals, dolphins, porpoises and, last year, a sperm whale.

The organisation also promotes wider community involvement through school sessions and has provided litter storage benches equipped with litter pickers and recycled collection bags. Beachwatch Bute provides two beach wheelchairs free of charge, helping ensure that residents and visitors of all abilities can enjoy the island’s beaches.