Floods allow return of Romanian wildlife

Tour guide Eugen Grigorov steered his boat past half-underwater combine harvesters and last year's flooded crops in a part of Romania's Danube Delta reclaimed by the great river.

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After a dyke burst last summer near his village of Mahmudia, swathes of the delta once drained for farmland were submerged again, creating the region's second-largest lake and a paradise for the region's battered biodiversity.

"Isn't it lovely now? Less pollution than with tractors and herbicides," the 51-year-old said, marvelling at the hundreds of wild pelicans, ducks and gulls flocking to the lake.

But while many welcome the return of wetland wildlife to the delta, local authorities are bracing for battle with farmers who want it drained again.