Did you know? Our lakes are open for you to enjoy – with nature trails, picnic sites, bird watching, angling, sailing, and more!
Giving our eels a helping fin
Did you know that the eels in Blagdon and Chew Valley lakes travel 4,500 miles to the Sargasso Sea to breed – and they’re more endangered than Red Pandas?
Our ‘Spawn to be Wild’ project aimed to help these mysterious fish on their hazardous migration and boost numbers. As part of the programme, an eel trap catches elvers (baby eels) in the river below Blagdon Lake’s dam, allowing us to move them up to the safety of the lake. We also gave local school children a tank of elvers to look after and release into Blagdon Lake, so they could learn about eels’ life cycle and how to help protect them. We’ve helped over 11,000 eels so far!
Listening out for bats
Bristol Water took part in the 2023 ‘Citizen Science’ North Somerset Bat Survey run by North Somerset Council and the University of Bath, to find out how many of these cute, tiny flying creatures live at our sites.
Special sound recorders on sticks were installed, to capture the sounds made by bats over six nights. The recordings were then uploaded to an automatic sound analyser to identify the different species.
We were amazed that the sound analyser identified 15 different species of Bat at our sites, including Common Pipistrelle, Greater and Lesser Horseshoe and the rare Bechstein’s bat!
Our lakes and reservoirs are the perfect environment for bats, with the millions of flying insects that breed in the waters providing a great source of food.
The data we collected will help the Bat Conservation Research Lab understand these wonderful animals and protect them for the future. To find out how you can help, visit: batconservationresearchlab.co.uk
Adding adders in the Mendips
We’ve been working with Mendip Hills National Landscape, building homes to encourage Britain’s only venomous snake. We’re proud to be hosting a hibernaculum (a structure of rocks and logs built by the team from Mendip Hills National Landscape for the snakes to spend winter in) on the edge of Blagdon Lake.
The hibernaculum faces south to absorb the sun’s warmth and is positioned near scrub and bracken so the snakes can bask in the spring.
It is hoped these structures dotted across the Mendips will increase numbers of this beautiful and endangered reptile.
Why you should visit Chew Valley lake
Chew Valley Lake is a renown scenic beauty spot and top quality fly-fishing destination. The area it covers, once rich farmland, is now fertile ground for the aquatic life necessary for sustaining quality trout fishing. Find out why you should visit the scenic beauty, top-quality fly-fishing and great activities available at Chew Valley Lake.
Blagdon Lake - the anglers paradise
There aren’t many anglers in the world who haven’t heard of Blagdon Lake, the name stirs emotions for thousands of anglers as the home of still water trout fly-fishing with catch records going back as far as the early 1900s.
Sitting at the foot of the Mendip Hills in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Blagdon Lake covers 440 acres and is classified as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) by Natural England for its wildflower meadows and bird populations.
Want to get involved with fly-fishing?
At Bristol Water Fisheries we are passionate about offering a wide range of ways to get into fishing. Find out about everything from permits and pricing, to fishing tuition and our fish farm.
