Locals were shocked to see a dark brown sludge swamping the Noddleburn on Monday afternoon, with fears raised for local wildlife.

Alarm was expressed at the unusual slick which headed down the burn towards Aubery - a popular spot for ducks and swans at around 4pm when this picture was taken.

However, the incident had been reported earier that day to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) who had officers out investigating the matter.

Worried dog-walker Helen McAlees alerted the ‘News’ to the problem on Facebook.

“I only walked up just to the bridge where you go to Noddsdale Meadow, and work is going on just up past that, and this sludge was in the water seemingly the whole way, and is passing the boating pond at Aubery.

“You can see the ducks at the bridge and they look unhappy. There doesn’t appear to bey any smell - don’t know if it poisonous or just manky.” Malcolm Macdonald also said: “They are putting rocks in for barriers but turning up a lot of mud.” A SEPA spokesperson said: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the public who informed us of this pollution incident, which enabled us to investigate it early on.

“A SEPA officer attended, and the pollution was traced to bank reinforcement work being carried out on a section of the watercourse in the Noddleburn area. A licence for the works had been granted by SEPA to North Ayrshire Council.

“The removal of the bankside vegetation to install rock armour without diverting the flow of the watercourse away from the working area was resulting in suspended solids being washed into the watercourse. Best environmental practice was not being used in carrying out the work, so SEPA had a meeting on site on Tuesday morning with North Ayrshire Council and the contractor where we discussed the measures we expected to be put in place. Warning letters will be sent to North Ayrshire Council and the contractor.

“The watercourse is now running visually clear but we will continue to monitor it and how the work is being carried out.”