Don't ignore it, report it! The Environment Agency emergency hotline. If you see: Damage or danger to the natural environment Pollution Poaching Risks to wildlife Fish in distress Illegal dumping of hazardous waste Flooding incidents Ring 0800 80 70 60 Call free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This number is for emergencies only, not for general enquiries. Prompt action can help the environment!
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FoSL to become a Landowner!

At our AGM in March our Chairman, Ian Watson, announced that FoSL was negotiating to buy a 350ft stretch of the Colne River bank. The stretch concerned is north of Springwell Lane, opposite the car repair workshop, on the west bank leading up to the wooden footbridge over the river. The area concerned is highlighted In RED on the map below.

The cost will be £6150 including legal costs. This initiative has the 100% support of your committee and was enthusiastically welcomed by the 66 members attending the 2013 AGM. We are working on plans for the plot which is over 60ft at its widest point. We will work closely with the fishermen, North Harrow Waltonians, who have interesting ideas concerning fish stocks preservation and enhancement. Whatever we decide, nature conservation will be paramount.

We believe that most of our members will want to contribute to this historic development and so an appeal letter is to be sent to all current members. It can also be downloaded from here. All contributions, large and small, will be most welcome and helpful. This is really exciting!

May 2013

2013 AGM

Minutes of our 2013 AGM, held in March are now available from our AGM page.

May 2013

Hedge Laying

We’ve now begun laying the hedge that we planted in 2005, with guidance from Rob Hopkins of Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust. We have layered nearly half of the hedge along the path leading from the Uxbridge Road river bridge. We will do the other half next year. The Trust was represented by its “green team” of Michael, Steve and Colin, as well as Rob. FoSL was represented by Christine Crowther, Dawn Goodair, Tony Lee, ‘Mitch’ and Ian Watson. The work took place on Tuesdays 19^th and 26^th February 2013.

March 2013

Butterfly Survey

Last year we revived the Stocker’s Lake butterfly survey. In the late 1990s the survey was undertaken annually but a lack of volunteers led to it falling by the wayside for many years. However, thanks to Barbara James, we now have an enthusiastic and increasingly knowledgeable team who walked the reserve recording butterfly life from May to September 2012.

Unfortunately the wet summer was against us as butterflies like warm, sunny weather. However many species were recorded and reported to the county recorder, and we hope for a better summer in 2013.

Further information including count details were published in our January 2013 newsletter and are available from Barbara James by emailing her at barbara.james5@btopenworld.com

January 2013

Rare Sightings

Last (2012) summer you may have been lucky enough to have spotted one or possibly both of two recent rare birds to have visited the reserve. Firstly a rare female hepatic (brown) Cuckoo was spotted and photographed by Phil Harrison (see below) on June 1^st. It was seen about half way down the river bank in a tree. Interestingly there was another hepatic cuckoo sighting in almost exactly the same place on 1st May 2010. Quite a lot of female Cuckoos are very site faithful. So we wonder if it might be the same bird !!.

Also seen in June, on the river not far from the Causeway, between 10^th and 17^th, was a very rare Little Bittern. This was seen by a number of people and was photographed by our bird recorder, Andrew Moon. See below. Further information and additional photographs can be found at this website.

For further details of other sightings of birds at the lake, please see our Sightings page.

Sightings - tell us what you have seen

Seen something interesting on or around the lake recently? Do let us know so that we can post it on this site and keep others informed.

Members’ Views

This website needs your input. We are delighted to hear your comments – e.g. your views and feelings whilst perambulating the Lake; If it interests you, it will probably interest other members of FoSL, so let us know and we can pass it on! Also, please give us your views on any aspects of the way FoSL is run or the lake managed. Simply e-mail the webmaster.

Stocker's Lake in the snow

Les Mead has made a video of a walk around Stockers Lake in the snow.