Mill Road Fishery

Encouraging Wildlife

One of our key objectives is to improve the environment to encourage a broad range of local wildlife to visit and live in and around our land.  During our first winter we planted over 150 trees, shrubs and plants.  All of these are native species and all are selected to add to the environment in one way or another.

Plantings included Alder, Elder, Pussy Willow and Bird Cherry trees and Purging Blackthorn, Broom, Wild Rose and Snowberry.  Some of these have been placed inbetween the swims and in time  will create a more intimate environment for the individual fishing positions.  A problem at the moment is how to protect these areas and give the plants time to develop.  We have started to use rustic fencing and logs to try and identify the 'out of bounds' areas.  Whilst this is not ideal, it will help in the short term.

By the way, anglers that think it is appropriate to pull the willow saplings out of the ground because they are 'in the way' will not be welcomed back to the fishery.  We operate a zero tolerance policy on those that spoil the environment and that includes litter.

We have also planted a number of wild flowering plants such as foxgloves, primulas and vetch.  Again these will take a while to establish, but should add to the range of insect and bird life supported.

The islands have also been planted, although it is a constant battle to keep the thistles under control as they seem to swamp everything that we do!  In time we hope that the islands we look more natural and provide cover for the waterfowl and more interesting margins to fish to.

Barn Owls visit the site and can be seen hunting for the field voles in the long grass at the car park end of the lake.  They often sit on the wooden pole in the middle of this field.  If they are not by the lake you can sometimes see them through the trees in our other field.  We are hoping that they (or their offspring) decide to roost in the nest box that we have installed in the big tree by the car park.  Part of the reason we leave the grass as long as we do is that it creates the environment for the Field Voles which of course form a major part of the owls' diet.

We have had Egyptian Geese breeding on the lake for two years now.  They are usually very peaceful, but the young birds make quite a mess and it is somewhat of a relief when they finally decide to leave!

If the lake is quiet the Muntjac Deer sneak in for a look around.  They usually stay long enough to eat anything we have planted before making them selves scarce.  If you look across the fields toward the river Bure you will often see small groups of Muntjacs as well as Red Deer.

Another stunning site is the Marsh Harrier.  An unmistakeably large bird of prey that we are fortunate to see fly over regularly.

Two years ago we had a single Moorhen, he/she acquired a mate and now we have a rising population.  They are furtive birds occasionally venturing across the lake but mostly hiding in the marginal undergrowth or commuting to the dyke.

The thistles which cover a lot of the surrounding bankside during the summer can be a bit of a pain (literally!), but they provide a food source for a huge range of insect and bird life.  When we have more time we will survey the number of individual species, but at the moment we just enjoy trying to identify the damsel and dragon flies, butterflies, bees etc. 

Here is a nice picture of a Lime Hawk Moth caterpillar, as you can see its as big as a finger with amazing colours.

Mixed Blessings

Here is a subject that will cause some mixed emotions amongst the visitors to Mill Road - otters.  So far we have only been visited during the winter period and we would estimate that we have only lost a handful of fish,  It is  something that we will have to keep an eye on.  Some fisheries have had to resort to fencing (the only protection).  The remains of this fish were found in February 2009 and were very fresh, since the otters have usually only left a patch of scales it is possible that we disturbed an otter mid-feast.

We have a small colony of Water Voles that live on the islands and make regular visits to the mainland!  Despite the ill-informed view of some these are not rats and we are proud to have these nationally rare animals in residence.

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