Canal oil spill kills kingfisher

A SUNKEN dredger that was left spilling oil into the Stroudwater Canal was responsible for the death of a popular kingfisher.

Eye witnesses saw the bird swoop into the oil slick, then was unable to free itself, eventually drowning in the oil, Janet Friend reports.

It  struggled to get out from the large oil slick, but with its feathers covered in oil it was unable to release itself and died.

Stopped the oil

Cotswold Canals Trust had stepped in and stopped the oil that was leaking from the sump of the dredger, that sank in December, and contained the slick. The Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust told that the leak had become worse, and was near a section of the canal that was a reserve where the kingfishers breed.

A witness told that the birds' mate was flying around the slick 'screaming', that she found most upsetting.

Canal & River Trust claimed it was a 'small quantity of spilt oil', though others maintained it was a large quantity, but the trust did nothing about it.