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Wildlife,Weed,& Weather

Posted: 25th Jun 2014

Well it's been very warm over the last few weeks with a day of rain this week cooling things down a little but still 25-28oc most days. It has been a dry year so far with very little spring rainfall, but the lakes are holding up at top level so far.

The weed has sprung up over the last 2 weeks which we have not seen for a good 4 years now. I did preempt this a little after removing all the Tench in the winter that have been keeping the water cloudy, thus stopping the light penetrating the water. I added 30 young Grass Carp on the drain down to hopefully combat things but may need to assess the situation over the year. There seems to be a band running a third of the way out into the lake from the Peg side, but clear behind with most other parts of the lake having clear space and not causing any issues landing fish so far.

The two chaps who have booked the lake this week have been soaking up the sun and really kicking back and relaxing. They have chosen Pegs 2 & 3 and with so many fish feeding around the chaps baited areas I'm questioning if they have hooks on!!! The fish are really grubbing around and bubbling all over the lake, with them popping their heads out and go back down for another feed. The 3x 30lb+ fish the lads have caught this week came through the night time but with so many signs of feeding fish in the morning & evenings I cannot believe fish will not be caught throughout the day. Once again like I keep saying it's all about accurate baiting, little and often and getting the fish competing for your bait.

I have been wanting to post a blog about the Wildlife because you all know how fanatical I'm about it, and if you enjoy all things of the natural world we have a peace of heaven that would be hard matched anywhere in Europe. I think it's such a unique environment that favours so much Wildlife because of the diversity of habitat. Apart from the lakes being the oasis in the valley, the huge deciduous woodland overlooking the lakes plays a huge role sheltering the lakes, providing security for all manner of species from Booted Eagle, Black Kite, Honey Buzzard, Black Woodpecker to Wildboar, Red Squirrel & Pine Martin. Most of these species can been seen with a keen eye and a pair of binoculars. Along with the woodland we have a large strip of wildmarsh left totally undisturbed running at the back of the lakes along the full length of the stream (around 1000 yards). This plays an important role in the insect life around the lakes supporting a huge array of Dragonflies, Damselflies, Butterflies along with Waterail, Spotted Crake, & Snipe.

The range of rare & unusual abound here and any keen naturalist will be in their element strolling about the land. Both the Common & Green Lizard can be found running around your Peg throughout the day which I have attached a picture of below. The land is a limestone/clay which is very rich in nutrients which keeps the lake ph level at 8.3 supporting the invertebrates which benefit the Carps health. It also supports a huge array of Orchids for any botanists out there including, Marsh, Pirimid, Bee, Lizard, along with a few others nodoubt.

Today alone I disturbed a huge Purple Heron along the lake margin, Red Squirrel in the Garden, Hoopoe calling at the nest site, Gold Oriole calling along the poplar trees down at the lake, family of Green woodpecker looking for ants on the Peg bank, Turtle Dove perched on each tree top, Redback Shrike feeding recently fledged young, the list goes on.

Whether you're just an out & out Carp Angler, or like myself you love the natural world around you whilst fishing, this place has it all & will please both angler & naturalist. It's not everyday you can just kick back and enjoy the world go by on a lazy, quiet summers day while at the waters edge!! 

Hopefully the chaps will get to grips with the fish over the next 24hrs and start to capitalise on their activity, but it's not all about numbers for everyone with so many other facets to our sport, it's the enjoyment which should be the most important factor.

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