The water in the boating lake has been 90% duck detritus for a long time now. This image was taken in July 2014.

Here’s some good news and welcome common sense for those of us who enjoy Chasewater – after being nothing more than a filthy soup of rotting bird faeces, food and feathers for a few months now, Staffordshire County Council have got contractors in to clean out the boating lake.

You’ll no doubt remember that back in July, I complained about the state of the newly resurfaced walkways at the park, which a number of users had complained about; a week later, to their credit, the rangers got the paths cleaned, and seem to have been keeping on top of the task ever since, which has been much appreciated.

The water in the boating lake, which is relatively shallow, has been in a dreadful state though, and since there’s no natural top-up other than rain and runoff, it hasn’t improved.

Yesterday (1st September 2014), Staffordshire County Council announced on the Chasewater Facebook page that the water was finally being pumped out and changed.

Fresh water for the Ducks!

As part of the ongoing work by Staffordshire County Council to improve Chasewater Country Park, the Duck pond is being cleaned and re filled. Over the next few days, contractors will be on site pumping the dirty water into tankers. This water will be spread on suitable land away from any sensitive areas.

Once cleaned, the pond will be re filled with fresh water.

Please be aware of vehicles moving around the site, and read any warning signs displayed.

We are sorry for any inconvenience caused whilst the work takes place, and hope you continue to enjoy the beautiful Park and water.

I welcome and thank Staffordshire County Council and the Chasewater Ranger Team for this work – it’ll improve things no end. Excellent.

We can all help keep it clean in future by not overfeeding the birds with bread, as friend of the blog Rose Maria Burnell observed in spring. It’s lovely to feed the ducks, geese and swans, especially for kids, but please do so responsibly.

Cheers.

It’ll be nice to see this water cleaner. It can’t be healthy for the public, or the wildlife come to that…