the times | Monday May 2 2022 21
News
Water companies discharged raw sew-
age into coastal bathing waters used by
families and holidaymakers 25,000
times in the past year.
New data published today by the
Liberal Democrats also revealed that
untreated human effluent poured into
coastal swimming spots for a total of
160,000 hours in the last year.
Effluent is diluted with a high rain-
water content but it is also untreated,
introducing contaminants and patho-
gens directly into the water, harming
wildlife. The discharges, through storm
overflows, ended up at popular beaches
including Clevedon in Somerset and
Scarborough South Bay in Yorkshire.
Rivers were also affected. Previous
data showed the number of sewage dis-
charges for rivers increased from
Raw sewage spilled into swimming
spots 25,000 times in the past year
292,864 incidents in 2019 to 403,171 in
2020, a 37 per cent rise. The UK, how-
ever, has 1,500 discrete river systems
and only 600 designated bathing
waters.
Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat MP
for Westmorland & Lonsdale, said the
government had blocked a bill intro-
duced last week which would have
“named and shamed” water companies
found to have polluted wild swimming
spots or poisoned animals, including
dogs and otters.
Farron said: “It is now or never to
save families from swimming in sew-
age-infested waters this summer.
“Children should be free to enjoy
Britain’s great coastlines and lakes yet
conservative ministers are letting water
companies get away with shameful
sewage dumps. This is an environmen-
tal scandal. The whole thing stinks.Water companies are making billions
in profits whilst our rivers and lakes get
pumped full of sewage.”
The Liberal Democrats have made
sewage one of their biggest campaign
issues ahead of the local elections this
week. The government announced
plans in March to reduce sewage in the
waterways by 80 per cent, but the target
will not be met for another 30 years.
Farron said: “Voters can send the
Conservative government a message to
finally get tough on water companies.
Every vote for the Liberal Democrats
puts more pressure on the government
to stop this sewage scandal.”
The water industry regulator is
facing legal action over claims it failed
to use its powers to stop water compa-
nies from discharging raw sewage into
rivers. Wild Justice, an environmental
campaign group, has accused the WaterServices Regulation Authority (Ofwat)
of neglecting its duty under law to
ensure that sewage treatment plants
avoid releasing polluting discharge into
watercourses. The organisation said:
“It’s not so much Ofwat as Ofwhere?
They are missing in action.”
Leigh Day, acting for the group, said
a failure by the regulator to clamp down
on polluting water companies had led
to excessive nutrient levels in rivers that
is now threatening wildlife in the UK.
Water companies have collectively
cut investment in wastewater and
sewage networks by almost a fifth in the
30 years since they were privatised,
according to analysis of official data
published in December. Sewage spills
and agricultural pollution are key
reasons why 84 per cent of rivers in
England fail to meet the government’s
target of good ecological status.Kieran Gair
Green spaces
have ‘welfare
value’ of £25bn
David SandersonWoods, parks, beaches and country
paths in England and Wales have a
“welfare value” of £25 billion, with
small parks giving the best “pound for
pound” benefit, a study suggests.
The three most “valuable” recreation
sites were Hyde Park in London, at
£24.1 million, Sutton Park, in Birming-
ham, at £15.6 million and Blaise Castle,
in Bristol, at nearly £13 million.
Hampstead Heath and Greenwich
Park, London, Croxteth Hall, Liver-
pool, Ashton Court, Bristol, Southamp-
ton Common, Windsor Great Park, and
Bute Park, Cardiff, were in the Top Ten.
The study used an Outdoor Recrea-
tion Valuation tool developed at Exeter
University that looks at national data-
sets to analyse recreational habits.
The welfare value was calculated by
estimating the benefit from the recrea-
tional options balanced against the
costs, such as travel, of visiting.
This told researchers the “amount of
utility a person considers to be equiva-
lent to having one extra pound”.
The study, funded by the Depart-
ment for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs found that people from ethnic
minority backgrounds and less affluent
socioeconomic groups were less likely
to “take a trip to a recreation site”.
Brett Day, of Exeter University, said
the “great contribution” of the study
was that it put a value on green spaces
in England and Wales for the first time.
Lord Benyon, the minister for rural
affairs, said “even the smallest green
spaces... provide social benefits”.If you want to help a bee, plant a tree.
That is the message from scientists who
have discovered that bees use nectar
from linden and strawberry trees to
fight parasite infections.
It is hoped the discovery by research-
ers from the Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew and partners could be a boost to
tackling declining bee colonies.
In a new paper published today the
scientists report that bees’ guts and di-
gestive processes turn nectar from the
Why poorly bees should seek out strawberry trees
trees into two medicinal compounds.
Pollination by animals is one of the
world’s most important functions —
facilitating the reproduction of many
plants and supporting global food
production and ecosystems.
In recent years scientists have
become alarmed by mounting evidence
that bee numbers are collapsing, partly
because of parasites.
Professor Phil Stevenson, head of
trait diversity and function at RBG
Kew, and the study co-author, said: “We
now know that some flowers providebetter nutrition for some species while
others provide bees with a natural med-
icine, so we can select plants for restor-
ing degraded landscapes or crop field
margins that provide multiple and tai-
lored benefits to pollinators.”
The first compound analysed by the
team, unedone, was found in the nectar
of strawberry trees and was extracted
from strawberry tree honey. The re-
searchers analysed the faeces of buff-
tailed bumblebees after feeding them
unedone and discovered it had inhibit-
ed infections of the C. bombi parasite.The researchers also determined
that tiliaside, a compound extracted
from the nectar of the linden tree, offers
similar benefits.
Dr Hauke Koch, research leader in
pollinator biological chemistry at RBG
Kew and lead author of the paper, said:
“By better understanding the function-
al importance and contributions of in-
dividual members of the microbiome to
different pollinators, we may in the
future be able to better support their
health.”
Getting a buzz, Notebook, page 24Ben Ellery
T
he number of
Dartford
warblers seen in
nature reserves
has reached a
record high as they make
a comeback from the
brink of extinction in
Britain (Ali Mitib
writes).
Some 183 pairs of the
lowland heath-dwelling
bird were spotted in
2021, an increase of
20 per cent on the 152 in
2019, the RSPB said. It is
a 245 per cent increase
on the 53 pairs in 2011.
Dartford warblers
dwindled to a handful of
pairs in Britain after the
Big Freeze of 1963, one
of the coldest winters on
record, which left them
at risk of extinction in
the country, according to
the RSPB.
Efforts to create and
restore heathland and a
series of milder winters
have led to a resurgence
in RSPB nature reserves.
Restoration work by
wildlife trusts has
included removing
invasive species such as
pine and rhododendron
— allowing native trees,wildflowers and shrubs
to be re-established — as
well as clearing
encroaching scrub
around the birds’ habitat.
RSPB Minsmere on
the Suffolk coast was
home to 37 pairs of
Dartford warblers in
2021, up from 23 in 2019.
Mel Kemp, the warden
there, who oversaw the
restoration of the site,
including 42 acres of
coniferous plantations,
was delighted. “We have
seen a steady increase in
the number of Dartford
warblers, alongside other
species relying on
heathland habitats such
as nightjar. All the hard
work has really paid off,”
he said.
Dartford warblers are
still an amber-listed
species, meaning their
conservation status is of
moderate concern.
The birds, known for
their long, thin tail and
thin, pointed bill, need a
safe nesting place and
hunting ground from
which to pick spiders and
caterpillars from their
hiding spaces.
The bittern, a member
of the heron family that
has been described as
Britain’s loudest bird, has
also rebounded, rising
from 97 males, or
“boomers”, in 2019 to
108 in 2021, largely
thanks to the creation of
new reedbeds.
Revival should spur efforts,
leading article, page 27Warblers
soaring
back from
the brink
Dartford warbler population
Pairs spotted2011 2019 202115218353RSPB
MinsmereBEN HALL/RSPB