Three men from the Environment Agency together with a contractor were seen by Committee members Jo and Dave this morning examining the pipe. Apparently the pipe is about 80 % blocked which has obviously been the problem. The plan is to clear the pipe and to dig a channel through the sand into the lagoon. Apparently the work will start with the high tides, possibly next week and will cost about £15,000!
This is good news as hopefully the water levels will rise well before the cygnets and other birds hatch towards the end of April as they would be impacted by the current high levels of salinity. Swans don’t develop the gland which excretes salt in their early weeks, so high levels of saline can prove to be very toxic. Apparently you can sometimes see the adults snorting into the water and tiny white particles come out, as if they are blowing their noses! This is salt being removed from the gland at the top of the bill.