HUNDREDS of floating cucumbers have excused Fylde sheep from polluting Blackpool beach.

The Environment Agency launched the brightly-painted cucumbers last autumn to try to track down the source of sheep droppings which sometimes wash up on Fylde's holiday beaches.

But the findings show that sheep grazing alongside the Ribble and Wyre estuaries are almost certainly not to blame after only one of the 600 cucumbers made it that far.

Environment Agency scientist Mike Weston said it was still a mystery where the pollution was coming from, but investigations were continuing.

Cucumbers coloured with environmentally-friendly, water-resistant paint in white, green, black, red, yellow and blue were released from six sites to see if the currents would wash them toward Blackpool.

They were chosen because they are both bio-degradable and float, and the public was asked to help by reporting sightings.

One hundred and twelve cucumbers were recovered, all but one close to where they had been launched. Mr Weston said the experiment had still been valuable: "Most of the cucumbers were not washed ashore, but the information we gained is still very useful and will add to the data we have got from more traditional scientific methods."

With the Ribble and Wyre sheep seemingly off the hook, the agency now thinks the culprits could be from further afield.

The droppings add to existing pollution levels on the Fylde Coast, which last year still failed to reach European bathing water standards despite a new £100m sewage treatment plant at Fleetwood.

An agency spokesman said: "Work is continuing alongside North West Water to improve bathing water.

"Last year's results were not as high as previous ones."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.