Latest news with #Barwell
BBC News
21-05-2025
- BBC News
Bomb squad called to Barwell over item inside crashed car
The bomb squad was called in after police found a "suspicious" item following a crash.A car had left the road and ended up in a hedge in Ashby Road, Barwell, at about 18:25 BST on Tuesday, with two occupants fleeing the Police attended and while the crashed vehicle was being recovered, what the force described as "a suspicious item" was found in the rear of the car.A cordon was put in place while the Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team attended to confirm the item was "not of concern". The force would not confirm what the item was later identified as.A spokesperson said: "While the vehicle was being recovered, a suspicious item was found in the rear of the car."In the interest of public and police safety, a cordon was put in place and contact was made with the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, who attended."The item was examined and confirmed not to be suspicious and not of concern and the road was reopened shortly after."A search for the two people who left the area was carried out with assistance from the National Police Air Service but they were not found, and investigations were ongoing, police said.
Indian Express
18-05-2025
- Climate
- Indian Express
Are rains and climate change wreaking havoc with cricket?
It wasn't just the Bengaluru faithful who turned up in whites to kickstart a Virat Kohli Test farewell tour at the IPL game against Kolkata Knight Riders, or KKR cursing the rains that gave the IPL a wet reception on its restart. It was Kolkata's second rain-affected game of the season, and 3 IPL matches have now been lost in the first two-thirds of May to showers spoiling the literal parade. But climate change is wreaking havoc, and rain cancellations are a massive threat to cricket with attention spans diminishing anyways. Schedules across the world are going for a toss with rains regularly acting up and ruining the rhythm of cricket. Even for a sport with rain-rules in place, the regular showers are wreaking several tournaments. India's upcoming tour of England has many wary eyes affixed on it, though the IPL itself has faced the stop-start irritation that rains bring. According to which meticulously pored over matches recorded on ESPNcricinfo, the UK which is notorious for its fickle weather, has copied it's worst in last two seasons. 'Recent years have brought particularly unpredictable conditions. In both 2023 and 2024, more than a third of men's and women's international white-ball matches in England and Wales were affected by rain,' the sportsgazette revealed. It went on to add that since 2000, almost a fifth of all international white-ball matches in England and Wales have been disrupted by rain. The stats are dire and depressing even by the glum English standards: of the 739 matches played, 40 had reduced overs, 43 were decided by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, 33 ended with no result, and 26 were abandoned without a ball bowled. 'Climate change is causing more frequent and severe weather extremes, from heatwaves to intense storms and heavy rainfall. Rising temperatures allow the air to hold more moisture, leading to heavier downpours, while prolonged droughts leave the soil unable to absorb intense rainfall,' the news site noted. Quoting Gary Barwell, head groundsman at Edgbaston, the website drew a grim picture of how 'heavy rains' were messing with the summer game. 'I wouldn't necessarily say that more rain is the issue, but when it does rain, it's more intense,' Barwell told the Sports Gazette. 'Years ago, you'd get the occasional April shower, but now we tend to get heavier rain over a shorter period. It's definitely a changed weather system rather than just one specific shift.' Barwell lamented the very loss of seasons which immediately showed up in cricket. 'We seem to have lost the seasons – that's the biggest thing for me. We get extremes now. When it's hot, it's red hot; when it's cold, it can be really cold; and when it rains, it pours.' Last county summer, three games at Edgbaston were abandoned, which was more than 10% of all matches that summer. For comparison, no year in England and Wales had seen more abandoned games, except for 2019 – the notorious World Cup summer – when the rate was lower at 7.6%, but when the biggest white ball match turned farcical with a rueful mix of rains and rules. 'Incidentally, that World Cup made headlines as an alarmingly rainy affair. The tournament saw four washouts – the most in a single edition,' sportsgazette wrote. Meanwhile, Worcestershire County Cricket Club has an immediate disaster at hand: Their home ground, New Road, has long been vulnerable to flooding, but half of the matches played there were rain-affected, and after flooding seven times over the 2023/24 winter, the club is now considering relocating, sportsgazette said. 'The longer a match lasts, the more vulnerable it is to weather. As the dataset shows, only 11.2% of T20Is were rain-affected, compared to 22.9% of ODIs,' the piece added. However, every major Test series has had days lost to rains – at times unseasonal – changing the dynamic of the sport rendering it unpredictable beyond mildly entertaining values. The Climate Coalition's 2018 Game Changer report, as per said, 'of all the major pitch sports, cricket will be the hardest hit by climate change.' High temperatures that precede rains have also been detrimental. 'During last year's men's Cricket World Cup in India, extreme heat and elevated humidity affected 20 out of the 47 matches. 'It is not ideal and everyone knows that,' said Indian captain Rohit Sharma, referring to the challenging weather conditions,' wrote. Climate change-related water shortages and droughts are distressing national cricket authorities and governments from India to South Africa. 'Indeed, a standard cricket stadium requires 270,000–300,000 litres per week to keep the ground in a healthy and safe condition. In the summer months, the amount is significantly higher,' the report added. Last year's T20 World Cup won by India, witnessed extreme weather events with many rained off matches. quoted that in September 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria, both category 5 hurricanes, devastated parts of the Eastern Caribbean., causing significant damage to 27 cricket grounds. Leading insurer Lloyds of London reported a US$1.1 billion net loss from Hurricane Maria and a $2.1 billion net loss from Hurricane Irma due to the extraordinary level of damage incurred. 'The facilities were damaged – a lot. Some playing fields are no longer of use at this stage because of soil erosion, water damage. There are some back up and running where we can play cricket. There is cricket going on but it's not on a large scale. Some players migrated because they suffered damage to their house – it was difficult and it has impacted every aspect of life,' quoted Liam Sebastian, a first-class cricketer for the Windward Islands within the West Indies, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. 'Climate change is an existential threat for the West Indian community as the team seeks to re-establish itself at the pinnacle of the cricketing pyramid,' said Keith C. Mitchell, the Prime Minister of Grenada, as per the climate report. said the International Cricket Council (ICC) was yet to join the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, which FIFA is part of. 'To ensure a sustainable future and protect cricket players around the world, it is time for the ICC to develop a comprehensive climate safety strategy for its member countries' the report concluded.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Non-native 'tree duck' spotted on Cornish beach
A non-native duck believed to have escaped from captivity has been spotted on a Cornish beach. Artist Amal Barwell said he feeds the ducks every morning on Par beach after his dog walks and spotted the odd one out on 17 February. Cornwall Wildlife Trust confirmed it was a fulvous whistling duck that could have escaped from captivity. According to online resource All About Birds, whistling ducks or "tree ducks" are normally found in warm freshwater marshes across the Americas, Africa and Asia. The ducks, which are caramel-brown and black in colour, were once called tree ducks because of their habit of roosting in trees, said All About Birds. Mr Barwell said: "I go and feed the ducks every morning after my dog walks, they spot the car on my way in and gather waiting for when I come back. "About one week ago, I noticed him hanging out with the [others] - first I thought they had a baby but then I noticed he looked nothing like the other and was really cute." He said the duck had a "high pitch whistle" and "stands up for himself". "[He] seems well-accepted, he stays way away from me when I approach him," he said. "He was was here today completely in his element - Par beach inspires me as an artist." Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ Cornwall Wildlife Trust
BBC News
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Non-native 'tree duck' spotted on Cornwall beach
A non-native duck believed to have escaped from captivity has been spotted on a Cornish beach. Artist Amal Barwell said he feeds the ducks every morning on Par beach after his dog walks and spotted the odd one out on 17 February. Cornwall Wildlife Trust confirmed it was a fulvous whistling duck that could have escaped from to online resource All About Birds, whistling ducks or "tree ducks" are normally found in warm freshwater marshes across the Americas, Africa and Asia. The ducks, which are caramel-brown and black in colour, were once called tree ducks because of their habit of roosting in trees, said All About Birds. Mr Barwell said: "I go and feed the ducks every morning after my dog walks, they spot the car on my way in and gather waiting for when I come back."About one week ago, I noticed him hanging out with the [others] - first I thought they had a baby but then I noticed he looked nothing like the other and was really cute." 'Well-accepted' He said the duck had a "high pitch whistle" and "stands up for himself"."[He] seems well-accepted, he stays way away from me when I approach him," he said."He was was here today completely in his element - Par beach inspires me as an artist."
