Reports suggest that the number of mountain tarns in the Lake District has grown, but nobody knows who is responsible.
"I was walking up Bowfell last week," says Guy Beard, Chief Cagoule in the National Park Authority, "and when I arrived at Three Tarns, hoping to enjoy a sandwich before going on to the summit, I noticed a tarn, then another and another."
It just didn't stop," Beard continues, "there were a considerable quantity of tarns, far more than the three that gave the area it's name."
A special Tarn Count is being planned, using helicopter surveys and even satellites to monitor the tarns and try to discover the cause of the problem.
Beard said that the exercise would take ten years and cost around £10 million. He explained that this would seem like a large figure, but the continual cloud cover meant that it would take much longer to complete the survey.
Beard said that there may be a squad of 'Tarnspotters' who would patrol the fells looking for unusual tarn related activity.
Speaking at Lancaster University's Earth Science section, Professor Fox said there were several possibilities, ranging from aliens, which he considered "unlikely" to a gradual titling of the Earth "possibly caused by global warming".
In the meantime, fell walkers were advised to take care around tarns and report any suspicious behavior by the mountain lakes.
The Ordnance Survey said there would be an administrative fee for adding any new tarns to the maps and any that are not on the map should be considered "unlicensed and unofficial".
No comments:
Post a Comment