A SIX-YEAR-OLD boy from Upton Infant School is to do a sponsored 12-hour litter pick this weekend to raise money for two Dorset based charities.

Marley Keen is going to undertake a 12-hour litter pick on Saturday April 3 around Creekmoor, where he lives, and Upton, where he goes to school, with his mother Sonja.

So far, he has raised over £900, which will be evenly distributed between Hamworthy Hedgehog Rescue and the Dorset Wildlife Trust.

Sonja said: “Earlier in the year Marley was elected to be Eco School Counsellor by his class, so he takes this as having a responsibility to look after the local environment.

“This is why for his sixth birthday he asked for a little picker as we saw on Hamworthy Hedgehog Rescue the damage litter does to the Hedgehogs living environment.

“He has always loved wildlife and wants to do as much as he can to help protect it for the future.

“We chose Hamworthy Hedgehog Rescue as he loves Hedgehogs and Dorset Wildlife Trust have started a beaver project in Dorset last month and he really wants to join Beavers after lockdown, so this is what got him interested in this.”

Last summer, Marley cycled the Castleman Trailway in West Moors on with his dad and grandad and raised £1260 for Australian wildlife last year which affected nearly three billion animals.

Bournemouth Echo: Six-year-old Marley Keen is going to undertake a sponsored 12-hour litter pick on Saturday April 3 around Creekmoor and Upton on Saturday April 3 to raise awareness of littering in his local area

Now the young nature lover wants to help wildlife closer to his home.

Marley’s mum Sonja said he hopes to not only encourage people to not drop litter in the first place, but to get members of the public picking up litter as well.

“He really will be the next David Attenborough,” she said.

“He also just loves a challenge so each time we go out he sets a target of how many bin liners full he wants to collect on that day and won't stop until he has done it.

“He's become quite famous in Creekmoor and passers-by will stop and chat to him and say well done and even go and buy him chocolate to say thank you.”

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