A FARMER has been landed with a court bill for more than £7,000 after silage from a storage area on his land got into a Dorset river and killed hundreds of fish.

North Somerset Magistrates' Court heard from the Environment Agency that a member of the public reported seeing dead fish in the River Divelish, a tributary of the River Stour.

The water was polluted for more than 3km between June 25 and June 29, 2019.

Agency officers went to investigate the pollution and by tracking it upstream, they eventually found silage effluent discharging from a pipe connected to the Lower Fifehead Farm in Fifehead St Quintin, near Sturminster Newton.

Jasper Miller, aged 52, of Lower Fifehead Farm, was spoken to by officers as they investigated the cause of the pollution.

Via the use of dye tracing, officers established the link between a silage clamp (storage area) and the pipe - and Miller admitted that the wrong pipe had been unblocked, leading to the discharge. He had been unaware effluent was going into the river.

To mitigate the impact, he began removing polluted water for proper disposal by tanker.

Miller pleaded guilty to one count of allowing silage leachate to discharge into the River Divelish without an environmental permit.

He was fined £1,300 and ordered to pay costs of £6,079.

More than 400 fish were killed in the incident.

Following the court case, Sara Durden of the Environment Agency said they treat any incidents of pollution 'very seriously' and will take action if the offence is serious.

She said: "We are grateful to the person who alerted us to the pollution which set in motion the events that led to stopping this incident.

"Good intelligence sent to us through our hotline is more important than ever because it allows us to react accordingly and take the appropriate action.

"We take incidents of agricultural pollution very seriously and while most cases can be resolved by following guidance, we will take enforcement if the offence is serious.

"This incident could have been avoided if proper maintenance and checks to the drainage system had been made prior to the silage clamp being filled."

If you see pollution or dead fish in a river, contact our 24/7 incident hotline on 0800 807060.