A £4,000 donation from Tesco will help to prevent the deaths of dolphins, porpoise and other marine animals in mid Cornwall.

The county sees between 150 and 250 dead dolphins and porpoises washed ashore each year, and 2019 has been one of the worst in 15 years for marine strandings.

In an attempt to reverse this trend, Cornwall Wildlife Trust is running the Marine Strandings Network, aimed at recording stranded animals along the coastline of Cornwall and finding ways to avoid such tragedies happening.

The Trust will use the Tesco funding to invest in volunteers to revolutionise the way dolphin and porpoise stranding data is collected and used. This will ultimately lead to better protection of the natural environment of the St Austell Bay and Fowey coastal area for future generations.

The Trust received the funding courtesy of a special round of voting for coastal projects as part of Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme.