BIRMINGHAM – An investigation has been launched into the ‘strange happening’ of why a brook in Birmingham turned bright red.
A member of the public spotted the blood coloured stream at Perry Common Meadows on Wednesday January 24.
Birmingham City Council have since launched an investigation into the unusual phenomenon.
What Caused it
The council’s environmental investigators are also examining why the brook now looks like scenes someone might expect to see at the end of the world.
On X, formerly Twitter, Jilly Bermingham, the councillor for the area, posted: ‘I have been made aware of the strange happening in Perry Common Meadows and I am having it investigated.’
Her social media post prompted a number of responses online.
What People Said
Another local councillor, David Barker, said: ‘What the hell is that? It looks like the start of a horror film!’ Other comments included: ‘When I said go out and paint the town red last night, I didn’t mean it literally.’
Another X user saw the biblical connotations of the stream. Evan Ritchie said: ‘West Midlands police should be out looking for Moses.’
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Ms Bermingham said: ‘I have the environment officers going down to check it out. At the moment I don’t know what it is. I was only told about it last night. I put it on X mainly to warn people in case they got shocked if they went down there.
‘I’m waiting to hear what has caused it, which I hope will be today or tomorrow. They are going to take urgent action to clear it, although they can’t do it until they know what it is.
She said: ‘If it was paint there would have to be a lot of it to make it that dark. I don’t know if it’s some sort of chemical reaction.’
Prior to the incident
Interestingly, Birmingham was the city where Enoch Powell gave his infamous ‘rivers of blood’ speech.
In the controversial speech, Mr Powell attacked the Labour government’s immigration policy in a 25-minute speech which included incitement to hatred, ugly generalisations and ethnic stereotypes.
As of Thursday January 25, the water has largely returned to normal with some red remnants still visible further downstream.
