page_title: Blagdon Lake
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Blagdon Lake / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Moon over Blagdon Lake
context_page_description: Blagdon Lake lies in a valley at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, close to the village of Blagdon and approximately 10 miles south of Bristol, England. The lake was created by Bristol Water, when it dammed the River Yeo, starting construction in 1898, to designs by Charles Hawksley, and completing this in 1905. The Wrington Vale Light Railway was constructed primarily to bring building materials for the lake.
  The reservoir was formed by the construction of a dam and provided water to the pumping station which originally contained four Woolf compound rotative beam pumping engines, built by Glenfield & Kennedy of Kilmarnock, which have now been replaced by electric pumps. Two of the steam engines have been preserved, with one in working order as part of the visitor centre which also includes educational facilities for children. The pumping station is now a Grade II* listed building.
  The 8,456,000,000-litre lake still provides 9,547,000,000 litres of drinking water each year, but also acts as a fishing lake. It provides a habitat for a range of flora and fauna and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
context_section_description: Blagdon Lake is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) of 212.7 hectares (526 acres), created in 1971, largely because of the variety of species and habitats. The area around the pumping station was laid out as an ornamental woodland which includes Scots pine, Cedar, Larch, Spruce, Oak, Beech, Chestnut, Willow, Lime, Holly and Maple. A variety of orchids including green-winged orchid (Anacamptis morio) and southern marsh-orchids can be seen on the borders of the lake.
  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 goose (Branta canadensis), duck (Anatidae), shoveller (Anas clypeata) and gadwall (Anas strepera). The common buzzard (Buteo buteo) can be seen on the surrounding hills and both Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) and kestrel breed. Occasional visitors include: osprey ("Pandion haeliatis"), goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), Eurasian hobby (Falco subbuteo), nuthatch and great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major). The ruddy darter dragonfly (Sympetrum sanguineum) can also be seen. In the wood at the western end of the lake there are populations of badgers, roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and foxes.
caption: The lakeside with trees
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