Council to drain beauty spot lake (From Barry And District News)

Council to drain beauty spot lake

ONE of Barry's most beautiful tourist attractions is set to be drained to help reduce the risk of passenger planes being hit by birds who live on the water.

The Knap Lake, popular with locals and visitors, has almost 130 swans and is the permanent habitat for a lot of wildfowl and gulls.

Earlier this year a BMI Baby Boeing 737, carrying 100 passengers, was forced to turn back to Rhoose based Cardiff International Airport because a bird hit an engine over the Knap.

Managers of the airport are concerned that the bird population on the picturesque stretch of water is putting the lives of air passengers at risk.

Permanently draining the lake has been rejected by Vale of Glamorgan Council. Other solutions such as putting up a fence around the water have been dismissed as the measures would ruin the beauty spot for visitors.

The alternative is to drain and clean the lake which will cost an estimated 50,000.

This would mean the swans would be dispersed to another area while other birds would go elsewhere naturally.

Officers believe that by taking this temporary measure they will disrupt the cycle of returning birds and reduce the numbers who live there permanently.

Parks manager for the Vale of Glamorgan Council, Phil Beaman, said: "This is in the best interests of the birds.

"Physically removing the birds from the lake would be a last resort if they do not respond to the draining and leave naturally."