Picture the scene: An idyllic stroll through the Northampton countryside to mark the start of a brand new year.
Birds chirp in the trees, hedgehogs bustle through the undergrowth, all is well.
But wait, what’s the? A stream cuts through this pastoral scene – a stream of, what is that, BLOOD?
This stream in the Thorplands area of Northampton was blood red last week
That was the first thought to cross Pep Finn-Scinaldi‘s mind as he rambled through the Thorplands area on Thursday.
The 28-year-old told the Northampton Chronicle: “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.”
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Thankfully there was no dead whale, nor has there been any mass slaughter of virgins (which was suspected to be the case after a similar incident in Slovakia last year).
The matter was referred to the Environment Agency, which worked with Anglian Water to trace the source of the colour.
An Environment Agency spokesman confirmed to HuffPost UK on Monday the bloody hue was down to a spillage of red ink and that the incident is not thought to have caused any negative environmental effects.
Phew.
The waterway has since returned to it's non-descript, muddy colour