Boy, 11, fishes out litter from Thames

A BOY from Nettlebed is on a mission to clean up rubbish from the River Thames to protect wildlife.

On Sunday, Lucas Winter, 11, collected a bag full of metal items from the section of river near Henley Bridge, opposite the Relais Henley hotel, in the space of 10 minutes using his magnet fisher.

He patrolled the area alongside his mother Angela, putting any rubbish he found in a laundry bag, which was provided on request by the hotel in Hart Street.

Lucas, who is in Year 7 at Gillotts School, also rescued two small fish during his outing which had got caught up in old electronics in the river and were left “flopping around”.

His other finds included a fishing lure, screws, a rusty sign and four parts of shelves which had been discarded.

Magnet fishing involves the process of casting a powerful neodymium magnet, attached to a durable rope, into a body of water to retrieve lost or discarded metal.

Once the magnet hits the bottom the rope is pulled back to the surface for collection.

Lucas, who lives in The Green in Nettlebed, was inspired to start the hobby aged six when he was introduced to it by a man he spotted magnet fishing from his window.

He said: “People throw metal in the river and it’s not right so you have to bring it out the water and put it in the bin and it will also make the water better for the animals.

“It’s like opening a pack of Pokémon cards. You never know what you’re going to get.

“I feel proud when I find something good.

“It might not seem exciting because all you do is throw a magnet in the river but it depends what you get.

“Last week, I got a fishing lure with the wire still on it and I was excited because I got something that isn’t really ordinary.

“If there is something big, you have to go a bit behind and drag the rope so the magnet can connect it.”

Lucas said he found the amount of waste in the river on Sunday “worrying”.

“When one piece of metal comes in, you see the next and the next,” he said.

“There’s going to be so much metal. It’s causing pollution.”

On discovering the fish, Lucas said he was proud to save them because they could have become trapped and died.

He said he was “upset” to see them there.

“Fish don’t really know where they’re making their home so they are making it in rubbish and it’s a bit upsetting,” he said.

“It would be sad if they had been left there.

“They were little fish but their heads were bigger than their bodies.

“If I had left it any later, they probably would have got trapped.”

During the clean-up Lucas, who is a sea cadet and member of the Henley scout group, was stopped by several walkers who praised his efforts to collect litter from the river.

He now plans to do regular clean-ups in Henley to make a difference and hopes to make YouTube videos while magnet fishing to teach others how to do it.

Lucas said: “People stopped me and said, “you’re showing an example to the adults” because a lot of adults don’t do magnet fishing and they should more often.”

“There was a big electronic thing that I found. That was probably my best find. It was covered in lots of algae.”
Lucas has plans to start an after school club for his classmates to get involved in magnet fishing with him after he discovered his passion for it.

He said: “I want to start the club so more people can help to get all the metal out.

“I haven’t told my teacher yet but I will.

"With one person, you can only get a little bit of metal but with more people you can get lots.”

Lucas’ mother Angela, who works in marketing and communications, said: “He was absolutely amazed by the quantity of metal.

“Cars stopped at the traffic lights and opened the window to say, “well done”.

“Everyone was praising him.”

She said she noticed Lucas has had a passion for caring for the environment from a young age.

“He has always been very caring about plants and animals and he is very cautious about nature,” she said.

“When [we were out on Sunday], he said to me, “look, I’m saving the environment.

“The metal was heavy as well but he is super careful about it because he knows it can be dangerous.

“Every time we walk and he finds plastic or a bottle or other litter, he wants to collect it and he puts it inside his bag because he says, “this is not good”,

particularly in the river. The concern he has is if the fish eat the plastic and die.”

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