Wildlife – a Spring Update from Richard Sales

Egyptian Goose (photo courtesy Paul Brown)

Our male pair of swans are starting to make a nest, however unlikely this seems. The pair of Egyptian Geese, whose breeding tree fell down last June, have still not yet found a replacement nesting tree, but they are checking out a cedar. Coots are building The Cascade has been out of action since last September due to an electrical fault related to high water levels. This is the responsibility of English Heritage, who want to carry out a major redesign to alleviate the problem for good, requiring extensive work and therefore cost. This has taken six months so far with no progress that I can see. While waiting, I would hope that a temporary repair could have been done as in the past.  The aeration and flow provided by the Cascade is essential for the quality of the water in the lake. Our lake was one of the few still bodies of water that did not suffer last year from algae or botulism because of the very hot dry weather (as noted by The Swan Sanctuary at Shepperton last summer).