Wax balls wash ashore at Cefn Sidan

Recent high tides and storms have washed up lumps of wax weighing more than a hundredweight on to Cefn Sidan.
Pembrey Country Park Rangers, making their daily tide line beach sweeps, have been discovering the bright yellow wax balls and disposing of them as they are found using mechanical diggers to lift them into skips.
Senior Park Ranger Gavin Hall said the wax was similar if not identical to material washed up in 2008 which the Environment Agency identified as harmless to humans stearic acid and octosane based wax.
He said: “The agency informed us that these materials are used in food processing, detergents and soaps.”
The wax balls found have been removed. They did not pose any issue to beach walkers but dog owners have said animals enjoyed chewing on the wax and were naturally attracted to it which caused them concern.
Veterinary advice is that if dogs ingested enough of the wax it could cause stomach problems but it was otherwise harmless.
Wading birds, too, seem to have an interest in the wax with many of the wax balls etched with deep pecking marks.
American student, Brooke Kavit, who is taking part in the Swansea University Study Abroad Internship Programme, spent an afternoon with park rangers and came across one of the wax balls.
From Chapel Hill, North Carolina and studying Political Science at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Brooke said she had been quite astonished at the range of work carried out by Carmarthenshire Council.
She said: “I have been impressed with the level of care exercised even by rangers monitoring and collecting beach jetsam like the wax.
She described Cefn Sidan as “quite breathtaking” and “a beach comber's paradise.”

Lumps of wax like this coming ashore at Cefn Sidan have been attracting the interest of wildlife.

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