Blagdon Lake

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Blagdon Lake

Grid reference	ST515597
Location	Somerset, UK
Area	440 acres (1.78 km²)
Volume	8,456 million litres
Governing body	Bristol Water

Blagdon Lake ST515597 lies in the Chew Valley at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, approximately 10 miles south of Bristol. The lake was created by Bristol Water (Bristol Waterworks Company as it was known then), when it dammed the River Yeo, starting construction in 1891 and completing this in 1899. The Wrington Vale Light Railway was constructed primarily to bring building materials for the lake.

The lake, which was originally called the Yeo reservoir, covers 440 acres (1.78 km²). The lake is relatively shallow, with an average depth of 14 feet and only 42 feet at its deepest point near the dam (west end of the lake). The eastern end is the shallowest where the River Yeo enters ^[1]. When full it contains 8,456 million litres and supplies 9,547 million litres of water each year, and works closely with its larger neighbour Chew Valley Lake.

1 Pumping station and Visitor Centre
2 Fishing
3 Ecology
4 References
5 Bibliography
6 External links

[edit] Pumping station and Visitor Centre

Blagdon pumping station

Blagdon Lake from Blagdon Village

Blagdon Pumping Station and Visitor Centre includes science and environment exhibits and hands-on displays as well as a room dedicated to the charity WaterAid. One of the two steam driven beam engines is still working occasionally. Outside this is space for picnics and a nature trail.

When the lake first opened there were four Woolf compound rotative beam pumping engines, housed in two separate buildings. They were built by Glenfield & Kennedy of Kilmarnock between 1900 and 1905. The beam itself is 34 feet long and weighs 17 tons. The flywheel is 20 feet in diameter and weighs 20 tones. Each beam engine had an output of 170hp at 17rpm. The HP cylinders were supplied by steam from Lancashire Boilers at 100psi. Three engines with a fourth on standby could pump 7.5 million gallons of water a day, whilst the boilers consumed 8.5 tons of coal per day. They ran until 1949, when two engines from the north engine house were replaced by electric pumps.^[2]

Blagdon Lake

In 1984 it was decided to preserve the two remaining engines and incorporate them as the central feature in the Visitor Centre, including a Museum in the old boiler house, which opened in 1988 and attracts over 30,000 visitors a year. The pumping station is now a Grade II listed building ^[3]

[edit] Fishing

The lake is well known for trout fishing from its banks and the fleet of 16 rowing boats for hire. The suction tanks which originally supplied water to the steam boilers are now used as rearing pools for the fish before they are transferred into the lake. On average 50,000 trout are reared at Blagdon each year by Bristol Water to stock this and surrounding lakes.

[edit] Ecology

Blagdon Lake from the A368 at Ubley

Blagdon Lake is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) of 212.7 hectares, notified in 1971.^[4] largely because of the variety of species and habitats.

A variety of water birds can be seen around the lake including; Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) and Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis), Cormorant (Phalacrocoracidae), Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), Canada Geese(Branta canadensis), duck (Anatidae), Shoveler (Anas clypeata) and Gadwall (Anas strepera).^[5] Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) can be seen on the surrounding hills and both Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) and Kestrel breed. Occasional visitors include; Passage Osprey, Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo), Nuthatch and Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major). The Ruddy Darter dragonfly (Sympetrum sanguineum) can also be seen.

A variety of orchids including Green-winged Orchid (Anacamptis morio) and Southern marsh orchids can be seen on the borders of the lake. In the wood at the western end of the lake there are populations of Badgers, Roe Deer(Capreolus capreolus) and Foxes.