BAD NEWS ..BUT WE'RE ALSO SINKING.

Byline: MIKE SWAIN 

LARGE parts of Ireland and England are sinking, a new geological map shows.

The new map - the most accurate ever produced - charts the way in which different parts of the islands are rising and falling.

And the sinking of the south and west of Ireland could add more than 70mm to sea level rises caused by global warming over the next century. The Coastland map, drawn up by scientists at Durham University, shows sinking is less than previously estimated in some places and higher in others.

Land and sea levels have been changing since the end of the Ice Age 20,000 years ago due to the weight of the ice being lifted from the land.

Professor Ian Shennan from Durham University said: "The action of the Ice Age on our landmass has been like squeezing a sponge which eventually regains its shape.

"The earth's crust has reacted over thousands of years and is continuing to react.

Subsidence and rising sea levels will have implications for people and habitats, and will require action to manage resorts, industrtial sites, ports, beaches, salt marshes and wetlands, and bird migrations.