Moulton's blood-red brook mystery solved

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-25627965

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The mystery of a babbling brook in Northamptonshire, which turned blood red last week, has been solved.

Villagers were puzzled by the red colour of the stream at Moulton and discussed it on Facebook. Some compared it to a scene from a horror film.

But the reason behind the discolouration of the tributary of Billing Brook turned out to be a lot less dramatic.

An Environment Agency inquiry found it had been caused by an ink spillage.

'Whale blood'

Pep Finn-Scinaldi, 28, from Northampton, who lives close to the brook, said: "At first I thought something had died as it looked like blood but when it was all the way along we said it must have been a whale to create that much blood."

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "The water has returned to its natural colour and, apart from the discolouration, we do not believe there were any negative environmental effects.

"We have worked with Anglian Water to trace the source of the red colouration through the surface water drains. As a result, we found the source to be a spillage of red ink.

"The watercourse affected was a small stream that is a tributary of Billing Brook, in Northamptonshire.

"The red colour was caused by a water-based ink which has no environmental impact."