The Fall and Rise of a Waterway

Just a few miles from where I live there is an old lake that has seen many owners come and go.  This started when an old Lord died and with the punitive death duties imposed on the citizens of the United Kingdom. Much land including the lake had to be sold to pay this odious tax.

With the result it became a still water trout fishery, using netting to remove predators like pike.  Many of which had achieved specimen status due to the rich head of small fish like roach,perch,bream,rudd and tench.  These beautiful fish were all killed robbing anglers the delight of catching them.  Only for the venture to fail and then to be sold on to someone else who had other ideas for it. In a short space of time it was used for jet skiing, resulting in the loss of trees to make way for a road and slipway to the water. This also meant increased levels of pollution resulting in fish and water fowl deaths. When this venture eventually failed we were left with a very sick lake as vast amounts of weed and lilies had been removed to make jet skiing easier.

In the space of five years due to an unjust tax which is affecting more and more of us due to the high value of housing we have all lost a valuable recourse.  For many years the lake had been owned by a family that looked after its land and allowed the public access to the lake to enjoy the many species of water fowl that inhabited it and the anglers the joy of catching specimen fish.

The story is not over with the help of a local angling association and many volunteers with advice from the water authority the lake are being restored.  Many thanks must go to various people who have worked tirelessly to save this sorry lake. The sad thing is we have allowed this to happen in the first place, we are all the losers when this is allowed to happen.  We must all of us look to protect our natural environment it is not all about co2 levels or how we must tax people into compliance or recycling.  It has more to do with the fact that with a little thought and hard work we can restore many of our waterways which have fallen foul to disuse or pollution.