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Comment by denton-scratch | Hacker News Reader

This article is completely London-centric. The Thames runs 50 miles east of London, and most of that reach is non-tidal (e.g. there are no seals or avocets in Oxford).

That non-tidal reach is pretty polluted - there are small fish (I've seen fishers pull out perch the size of a hand), but unfit to eat, because of the low water quality.

[Edit] There are herons, mallards, and lots of greylag and canada geese on the non-tidal Thames. I've occasionally seen water-voles; but never an otter. I guess the fish must be OK for herons to eat.

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I grew up near Oxford and I put the fact I don't get ill very often down to a childhood swimming in the Thames/Isis! You definitely wouldn't want to eat anything from the river there but it's mostly coarse fish anyway - they wouldn't be great to eat even if the water was perfect.

One positive thing in an otherwise fairly depressing picture is that the reds kites seem to be doing really well, I always thought they were carrion eaters but I was fishing once and saw one dive and pull a fish clean out of the water! There were very few when I was a kid but they were re-introduced from Wales and there's loads back in Oxford now.

> One positive thing in an otherwise fairly depressing picture is that the reds kites seem to be doing really well

A little too well maybe. Around the Chiltern Hills they are now a very common sight. I saw one many years ago and was amazed, but last time I went there were dozens or them hovering right over the towns! Apparently they have become brave and will swoop down on people, like seagulls but possibly even more alarming.

There are also shags. Shags are relatives of the cormorant, fish-eaters, and fantastic underwater swimmers; they padddle around on the surface for a yard or two, then dive, then surface 30 metres away, often holding a fish.

The common cormorant (or shag) lays eggs inside a paper bag [1].

[1] The reason, you will see no doubt, is to keep the lightning out [2].

[2] But what these unobservant birds have failed to notice is that herds of wandering bears may come with buns and steal the bags to hold the crumbs.

Gordon Ramsay of all people noted that the Thames is now teeming with eels because they compete very well in polluted water, while potential competitor species just can't survive and reproduce in those conditions like they can. He was trying to encourage consumption of eels as a protein source as a result.

So apparently, some species can be fit to eat but it's highly dependent on their biology.

I drank an unfortunate amount of the Thames on the Devises-Westminster race a decade or so ago. Somehow didn't get ill, but I think that was luck.

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