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Attila Borsos

News item feedback - for Julie

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Edited by Attila Borsos, Sunday, 8 Mar 2020, 18:52

As a fellow Bristolian, naturally, the title of your news item caught my eye straight away. However, I believe, it could be a bit more catchy or provocative in some ways (think of the Bristol Post: ‘Hundreds of homes in Bristol are at risk of flooding’). 

UKwide flooding is very topical and highly newsworthy, some other group members addressed it as well. You, rightly so, ring some health & safety alarm bells in your introduction.

Good quality photos, with well-written captions. Have you taken these?

(Not too sure about the third one though.) 

Your article nicely emphasizes the significance and the changing conditions of the River Avon/Floating Harbour that affect both city-dwellers and wildlife. It also comes with a current warning, regarding the poor water quality, with a link to the Council’s website. You also clearly explain the reasons for the excessive water pollution: the heavy rainfalls, the surface run-offs, and their consequences. 

You state ‘over the past 30 years’, maybe you could reference the source of this information.

The Nature article is a good choice and fairly recent (2019), informative, even though I’m only able to access the Abstract. It gives us the ‘bigger picture’ from the whole of Europe and directly links it to climate change. 

The visual data from the Environment Agency is also very relevant and impressive about the 2020's ‘unprecedented’ events.

Your conclusion is well-balanced, not too sensationalist, and takes us back from Europe and the UK to the Bristol Harbourside. As you say, ‘bringing the message home’ - you directly talk to  your local readers. 

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Julie Clayton

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Thank you for your feedback Attila. 

I did mean to add a link to the 'past 30 years' part so I will make sure I include that in my finished article.

The title does need to be more catchy, I agree so I shall work on that too!

And yes, they are all my photos, I spend a lot of time around there and have hundreds of photos in all times of day, year and weather conditions. The ones of the sediment were taken two weeks ago and were the reason I chose to write about this particular subject.