Plastic pollution affects mere as birds use rubbish for nest
A pair of coots have built a nest at Diss Mere which includes rubbish. Picture: Rebecca Murphy - Credit: Archant
With plastic pollution in our oceans currently a hot topic, it is also affecting wildlife a little closer to home.
A pair of coots have built their nest on the edge of Diss Mere which includes a Cornish pasty wrapper, plastic and some cardboard.
They appear to have raised three young ones from the nest.
'You would think it was a disused nest by the look of it,' said Celia Bradley, who along with her friend Gail Scott, noticed the rubbish in the nest as they enjoyed a drink at the Diss Publishing Bookshop.
'After seeing that whale [which died in Thailand with 80 plastic bags found in its stomach], even things in local ponds and meres are being affected, it is not just the ocean, it is everywhere.
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'The big coot keeps pecking at the plastic. You don't know if they are going to get tangled up in it.'
A prized and much-loved asset of the town, there are plenty of rubbish bins on the Mere's walkway.
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