Friday, 10 September 2021

Now That's What I Call Careless!

The UK's much-contested High Speed 2 (HS2) development is intended to speed trains between London and Birmingham. The development certainly seems to be having an environmental impact. Contractors constructing a tunnel system through hills at Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire, have managed to 'lose' 1600 cubic metres of toxic, clay slurry (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/10/hs2-potentially-highly-polluting-bentonite). The slurry is called 'bentonite' and the amount would be sufficient to fill more than 50 large trucks. The slurry has been lost in a vent shaft. It is feared that the bentonite will be moved by flowing water, as it passes through cracks in the rocks. If this happens, it will pollute diverse, sensitive chalk streams in the area. HS2 has already been critised for its destruction of protected, wooded areas.

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Birder's Bonus 241

Noted a Curlew ( Numenius arquata ) on the Loughor estuary at Bynea.