On 1st July, the Ceredigion-based Stand for Nature Wales youth forum met with ITV's Ruth Dodsworth for an upcoming Coast and Country episode. 

New Quay was already bustling with tourists when we started the day on the beach. Phyllis, Ellie, Grace, and Mattie were all keen to get started and rushed off to do some litter-picking. All the while a drone flew above capturing their climate action. Despite the team at the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales' Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre conducting regular beach cleans, the young people found 56 items of rubbish which included 29 pieces of plastic!

Once the beach was clean, the young people settled down for a chat with Ruth about the Stand for Nature Wales project, why it's important to them and what they're doing as a group to tackle climate change locally. 

The afternoon was spent out at sea looking for dolphins. The sea was calm and still, perfect conditions for dolphin spotting!

With squeals of delight from not only the youth forum but staff and camera crew too, over 20 bottlenose dolphins were spotted! They put on quite the show and even came close to the boat much to the surprise of the young people!

But for Mattie, it was the jellyfish that really stole the show. He counted a whopping 204 jellyfish during the short boat ride, from blue, compass, and even a small barrel jellyfish! He couldn't wait to talk to Ruth all about his sightings.

The Stand for Nature Wales project is Wales-wide and aims to empower and inspire young people to take action for nature and wildlife in their local area in a bid to tackle climate change. 

With youth forums all over Wales, there are opportunities to get involved regardless of where you live!