It is a cold, grey Dartmoor day. Haytor car park has barely a dozen cars and birdsong fills the air at Haytor Down.

On the dashboard of one car sits a toy of Great Uncle Bulgaria, the bespectacled and wise leader of the Wombles; that loveable furry-faced clan created by Elisabeth Beresford, who live in burrows and look after Wimbledon Common by collecting and recycling rubbish.

This car – and Great Uncle Bulgaria - belongs to Gian Ellis, a volunteer for Dartmoor National Park who regularly gives up his own time to collect litter from our special places.

“I think every Dartmoor Ranger should have a group of Wombles,” says Gian wryly.

Gian has been a volunteer litter picker since 2020 when, upon the easing of lockdown measures, he, like many others, was shocked by the amount of rubbish being left behind in green spaces.

Wanting to do something about it, he contacted Dartmoor Ranger Bill Allen and has been getting on with the job ever since. Gian regularly covers a vast area taking in Haytor, Trendlebeare Down, Hemsworthy Gate, Cold East Cross, Houndtor, Newbridge and Spitchwick.

And how much does he collect and what does he find as he looks for litter to trundle away?

“Probably a couple of very full black bin bags each time,” he says. “It can be as many as five in one go if I am somewhere like Spitchwick. It’s a beautiful place and I understand why people go there but people do leave a lot of rubbish behind. It’s not just the odd bit, people have a picnic and leave everything: plates, cutlery, tomato ketchup bottles, barbecues the lot – most of which ends up in the bracken.”

Litter doesn’t just end up in the bracken; it can also make its way into Dartmoor’s rivers, eventually ending up in our oceans and in the stomachs of Dartmoor’s wildlife. Gian has found bottles, empty but for the bodies of dead wood mice who got in but were unable to get out. Ponies, with their naturally inquisitive nature, can suffer adverse effects from consuming discarded food.

That’s not the worst of it. Alongside dog poo bags, sweet and crisp wrappers, wet wipes, used sanitary items and human waste, he estimates he’s picked up around 500 firework cartridges – something which poses a real risk to wildlife and can cause distress to livestock and ponies. He has come across, and reported, illegal fly tips he finds. These are usually rubble-type building waste dumped by the roadside.

And there are the more surprising (and intriguing) items. Says Gian: “I found a food measuring cup which had been stamped into the ground, a pot of bicarbonate of soda, a karate trophy, a cabbage in a tree, a pillow and a surprising amount of underwear.”

It is hardly the nicest of jobs at times and I asked Gian what he gets out of spending his own time picking up things that the everyday folk leave behind.

"I’m very aware litter is harmful to wildlife, so a big motivation is protecting wildlife and protecting livestock" he says. "Litter picking takes up a lot of time. If it’s something I can help with then it frees up the Rangers to do other jobs such as footpath maintenance.”

After we’ve peered inside his 72nd black bag of rubbish – filled with crisp packets, filled dog poo bags, tissues and, perhaps ironically, a supermarket ‘bag for life’, we talk about the significance of collecting 72 bags in the year Dartmoor celebrates its 72nd anniversary of National Park status.

Gian - pictured on the left with Ranger Bill Allen - is on the way to collecting 75 bags, yet another milestone as 2024 is the 75th anniversary of the act that led to the creation of National Parks. He’s already talking about getting a centenary.

While Gian’s efforts leave you feeling uplifted, there's something disheartening about seeing the rubbish left behind in our special places.

We talk about the importance of looking after nature with simple acts – taking everything home and leaving no trace – and perhaps the solution is for all of us to be a bit more ‘Womble’.

“I have a deep love of Dartmoor," says Gian. "It's an amazing and beautiful landscape. National Parks are the jewels in our national crown, and they need looking after.”

It’s a sentiment we think Great Uncle Bulgaria would agree with!

Get countryside code curious

Leave no trace of your visit by taking all litter home

Bag and bin your dog poo waste – if you can’t find a bin, take it home with you

Don’t light fires or barbecues on open moorland or in places where signs say you can’t

Care for nature by not causing damage or a disturbance

Article by E Pearcy

16 April 2024