Police and Marine Scotland officers have stepped up patrols to tackle illegal cockling on the Solway Firth.

BBC: Solway Firth cockle patrols stepped up

Maryport Inshore Rescue Service (MIRS) operates one high-speed boat independently of the RNLI in an around the Solway Firth.

BBC: MIRS rescue boat

As well as carrying out rescues in the Solway Firth, the charity also aided emergency services during the recent Cumbria floods.

BBC: MIRS rescue boat

The group were thought to have been trapped by the incoming tide in the Solway Firth but a coastguard search failed to find any sign of them.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Scotland | Cockling deaths 'almost certain'

Two flood watches are currently in force in Scotland for the east coast from Peterhead to Berwick, and the Solway Firth from the Esk Estuary to Loch Ryan.

BBC: Parts of UK on flood alert amid heavy rain

While England has the world's largest marine wind farm in Thanet, Scotland has, when I last looked, a modest Solway Firth array and a trial turbine in the Moray Firth.

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Starting at Kirkcudbright in the Solway Firth, he sailed round St Kilda, Shetland, and landed at Blyth on the north east coast of England before cycling 165 miles back to Kirkcudbright.

BBC: Alan Rankin on his yacht Trade Winds