OIL is set to flood towards the Morecambe Bay after a spillage in North Wales earlier this week.

Over 500 barrels of crude oil spilt from a leaking pipe off the coast of Wales on Monday, and the spillage has been drifting north ever since.

And now it's moving towards the English coast, on course to beach in the North-West.

ENI, the company in charge of the oil platform from which the spill originated, have reported that small tar balls have already washed up on the Blackpool coastline.

It could mean danger for marine birds which call the region home.

Dr Emily Baxter, Senior Marine Conservation Officer for the North West Wildlife Trusts said: "Our greatest concern is for the welfare of seabirds - offshore populations of sea ducks and divers in Liverpool Bay, coastal wading birds that feed and roost in our estuaries and along the coastline, as well as fish and other marine life that live and feed in our coastal waters.

"We are also concerned about the effect that the spill (oil and tar balls) will have on vital coastal habitats such as mud and sand flats, saltmarsh and sand dunes. Thousands of migratory and overwintering birds, as well as fish, shellfish, crabs and other wildlife rely a variety of different coastal habitats found across the Lancashire coastline."

News of the spill came on the 26th anniversary of what has been called Wales’ worst ecological disaster, when 72,000 tonnes of crude spilled from the Sea Empress oil tanker off the Pembrokeshire coast. Large numbers of seaweeds and invertebrates were killed on the beaches where it drifted ashore, and it took over a year to clean the slick.

The high winds of Storm Dudley have helped to disperse the oil spill. It is now being recorded to be washing up in the form of small tar balls, rather than a slick (which can smother birds, wildlife and habitats).

However, tar balls can be very persistent in the marine environment, travel vast distances and be difficult to clean up depending on their size and where they wash up.

If ingested, toxins in oil and tar can have a significant impacts on the survival and breeding-ability of marine life from birds and fish, to invertebrates and marine mammals, like seals, whales and dolphins.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust have stressed that it is important that if anyone finds any tar balls on the beach or affected wildlife that they do not touch them. Clean up teams are already working to remove the contamination. Tar balls can be reported to the local council and affected wildlife should be reported to the RSPCA as soon as possible.