\n Swan Support discovered oil “pouring” into the river near Blake’s Lock on Wednesday afternoon (September 24) after a member of the public alerted them to a swan apparently “contaminated” with engine oil.\n<\/p>\n
\n The oil spill is a cause for “high concern”, the swan rescue organisation said, as a large flock of swans “congregate[s] in the area”.\n<\/p>\n
\n Swan Support told the Chronicle they rescued two more swans that day and found “a further seven birds severely contaminated” the following day (September 25).\n<\/p>\n
\n A spokesperson for Thames Water said they responded to a “pollution incident” at Blake’s Lock on Wednesday, with initial investigations suggesting an “oil-based substance” may have entered the river “via a roadside gulley, likely by a third party”.\n<\/p>\n
\n The water company confirmed the substance found in the river was engine oil.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rob White, a local Green Party councillor, told the Chronicle “it is disgusting that oil has been dumped into the storm drain system ending up in the Kennet”.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said he saw several of the rescued swans, and they “looked like someone had painted them with thick black paint”.\n<\/p>\n
\n The councillor said he would keep working with local public services to “identify who has dumped this oil into the storm drain system and make sure they get the largest fine possible”.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Green Party councillors will always stand up for nature and do our best to make sure that the polluter pays”, White added.\n<\/p>\n
\n This is not the first time there has been an oil spill in the River Kennet near Cholmeley Road.\n<\/p>\n
\n Following an oil spill in the same area last year that affected 20 swans, an investigation by the Environment Agency resulted in a warning issued to DN Autos, a nearby car garage, after samples showed the oil had travelled from the garage to the river via the drainage system.\n<\/p>\n
\n Thames Water declined to comment on possible sources for Wednesday’s spill, but said they had done a trace to assist in locating the source and had passed all information gathered to the Environment Agency.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Agency confirmed it is working with Thames Water to “identify the source” of the oil, after which “next steps will be considered”.\n<\/p>\n
\n A spokesperson for the organisation added: “Pollution incidents are unacceptable and we share the public anger.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Swan Support described the incident as “incredibly frustrating and upsetting”.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The impact on wildlife is heart-breaking. Contaminated birds need to be brought in, cleaned, and then go through a lengthy recovery process to rebuild their waterproofing through preening before they can be released.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It’s incredibly stressful for them – and completely avoidable.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Anyone who has information about this incident or a similar case of pollution can contact the Environment Agency’s 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 807060.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Swan Support discovered oil “pouring” into the river near Blake’s Lock on Wednesday afternoon (September 24) after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-459092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115284706818052737","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}