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Hi Sam.. Its pretty temperate in the UK with highs of 30 in summer and a handful of days in winter - 1 to - 6. Any willow species in your local area will work..if i did it again i would definitely try and source bigger willow stems.
Thanks for watching.. apologies i have been slammed with work, the tree planting seasons over now, so hopefully get more content about the lake up in next week or so.
New subscriber and enjoying your lake build videos. Binge watched them today. Just one comment from me though… please can you reduce the volume of the music to more background as its very difficult to hear what you are saying at times. Personally I don’t think the music adds anything to the quality of the video. Will continue watching and look forward to seeing how the lake develops.
She is wrong about two weeks for live stock as the sugars rise in the plant making it more palatable and still just as toxic. It is only safe once the plant has gone of fully recovered.
Camellia to improve UK native biodiversity? Seriously? How many UK native species associations does a plant from south east asia have? Virtually none, other than some common Hymenoptera species that will take advantage of anything. We already have native species that flower over winter that work perfectly well (Hedera helix?). If youre trying to plant for climate change, hows about using the vast and perfectly adapted planting palate we already have from South West Europe that has already been here several times before, over millions of years of interglacials and already has infinitely more native species associations as a result, rather than using transcontinental exotics that have virtually none, and are also responsible for the vast majority of our invasive species? May as well plant a nice supposedly "wildlife friendly" plant like Cotoneaster hrizontalis (now a schedule 9 invasive species) while youre at it. This use of transcontinental exotics as a solution to biodiversity loss/climate change is oxymoronic. Has anyone done any experiments to see what a 2C temp rise will do to their fecundity? No.. no they havent.. Our native ecology is already utterly screwed as a result of this mentality. What happened to the precautionary principal? Stop it ffs.
Your concerns about native biodiversity are both valid and vital, and we're glad to address them. The camellia is indeed a carefully selected addition to our lake project, but it's just one part of a much larger initiative that predominantly features native plants. We've introduced a diverse array of native species that are tailored to our local ecosystem-plants like oxeye daisies, red campion, and meadowsweet, which provide a succession of blooms to support a range of pollinators throughout the seasons. We're also incorporating native shrubs and trees, such as hawthorn and willow, which offer both habitat and forage to wildlife. The camellia’s role is supplementary, providing nectar early in the season before many of these natives come into bloom. This trial, set within a matrix of native vegetation, aims to augment the resources available to pollinators, particularly during the challenging early spring period. We are committed to careful observation and management to ensure the wellbeing of our cherished local flora and fauna.
Hi mate u can get a geo fence put up around your fisherie to stop drones flying over drone laws say you're not aloud to pester wildlife with a drone so go over to the aviation authority and get a geo fence put up its £5 for so many square feet so if u look up how to get a geo fence it will help you out
Hi David... Yeah we fenced them out and within a couple weeks the bird life returned. We now have a family of little ducklings on the lake, geese, swans.. No sign of the moorhens yet but im Sure they won't be too far away.
Great video, The Dogwood actually looked great popping out the water like that, It will be very interesting to see how the lake develops over the years and be able to measure the effects of the climate etc on it, (I am not really a major believer of man made climate change exactly.) How many farms are there in the area that use fertilisers? I am thinking of algae growth and over growth of things like duckweed etc, just from experience of local lakes. Keep up the good work. Love Peace and Respect
Pretty lucky with all organic farms surrounding the pool, biggest nutrient load factor this winter was the ducks and geese which we had a ton of. In turn we have a pretty big filamentous bloom right now but the naturals are loving that. Just chucked a weed rake through it and it's loaded with snails, shrimps, worms ext..
@@tomorrowsforests Thanks, It would have been nice to see the dugout peg as you were asking for suggestions for it, Real stone walls should not use cement at all. They don't use cement up the pennines etc, and those stone walls last hundreds of years, even retainers! I recommend you look into 3 subjects, HugelKulture, (for problems growing above clay) permaculture, for fruit and nut trees (feed your family and a side income) and the Back To Eden technique. Watching the Back To Eden video is inspiring for all comers at the least.
@@freemanbynature I have been toying with the idea of a dry stone wall, unsure about its retention abilitys.. It will be holding back alot of soil weight. Thanks for the book recommendations. We do have a pair of herons, their doing a good job on keeping the silver population down and a few buzzards in summer.
Yeah that's not the way we going right now.. We are encouraging the weed growth to allow for a lot of naturals in the lake and a full healthy ecosystem.
@@tommytomtom560 it looked quite small when we marked it out with canes, then huge when we stripped the the topsoil, back to small when it only had a bit of water in it and big again when full. Lol I'm never sure.
What is the process for fitting the guard? Is it plant sapling first and then ease the tube down over it or dig hole first and feed sapling root first down through tube and then backfill? Or does it matter which method? Thanks
I'm about to dig a natural pond my self so this is really informative. Ide love your feed back on water levels. I'm digging into wet clay also but worried about the water line in the summer as I don't want it to dry up.
That must be so frustrating. I expect you've heard of the Miyawaki forest approach. It goes against conventional techniques by planting x3 times as many trees in an area. It's meant to speed up growth by up to x10 times. We've just planted 1500 whips here in S.Devon and got funding for it. Just thinking that it would take you past the vulnerable stage much quicker ?
Hi Joe we have a site that we have done Miyawaki on and a pretty extensive blog about it... may be of interest for you... www.creatingtomorrowsforests.co.uk/blog/the-miyawaki-method-for-creating-forests
I'm an Angler, and Otters were never on our 'popularity' list. That said, they were here before us, so who are we to tell them to leave? One of the joys of angling is to be in Nature, and Otters are Nature..so can't complain. Best of luck with the project.
Good on you for being open and honest…..It certainly is a grey area, and awkward when visiting longleat with the kids, and they are mentioning how cute they are 🤦🏻
If otters have arrived ,,,take a thousand quid every week and flush it down the toilet ,,,they've clean lots of fisheries out here in Scotland ,,i picked up a carp last year 26lb half eaten ,,and we had a electric fence 😅
Electric fences are not the best. A determined otter will go under or even jump over if it wants, you said that yours is 100 mm apart so I'm assuming 100mm of the ground. UKWOT recommendation is 3 strand at 70mm 140mm and 210mm. For this to be effective the bottom wire will need to be 70mm throughout its length, which is not particularly easy to achieve unless your ground is level all round remember also if rabbits burrow under you will then have to constantly check and repair on a daily basis. One thing you did say, is otters being reintroduced. It is a falicy, that is still talked about today 25 years after the last captive bred otter was released. There was less than 200 released over a 16 year period the majority in East Anglia. All otters in the wild in the UK today are from natural growth. Otters are very territorial and have very large territories, they live in low densities large territories. The likely hood is that the otter fishing your lake is the same otter that's fishing the other lakes that are close. Best advice I can give you is to contact Dave Webb at UKWOT, who will give you lots of advice and its all free. UKWOT want to work with fishery and lake owners. Just one other thing its impossible to know how many otters are in the UK, so without knowing that they cannot be controlled. Suffice to say that otters don't do anything different now to what they did thousands of years ago, the only thing that is different now, is with the rise in carp angling and fisheries, that they find it quite easy to catch them as they become more torpid in the winter months when otter predation tends to be at its highest on lakes and ponds.
If you want to create a proper little habbit and haven youll fence it properly and keep the otters out. Your fish and water foul and small mammals that show up will thank you for it, ive seen several other people with the same train of thought change their mind once they are burying the 2nd or 3rd batch of stock fish carcasses or the resident birds!
Regards to bankside cover for protection for birds etc. It doesn't work sections of river with mature reeds beds , woods and very mature banks have lost the majority of koots and moorhens at times. I have even witnessed them trying to take rabbits. They predate what is easiest. A really mature lake I was a member of was wiped out completely in the nene valley. It's great seeing them at times but sadly they don't mix with fisheries or birdlife. It's almost fence or loose it scenario from a fisherie side of things. What about fence it for 10 years and see where thing's are at with the local population. Deer and otters sorted and your lake gets established. During that time the otters will continue to test the fence as they do at the lake I'm fishing. Sad situation as your doing something great. Hopefully they will find a balance but there diet is massively varied! Good luck with the project, great seeing it develop.
Tough decision! Not sure you could win either way really! I think it’s a fair decision to give it time to establish. Whatever you do, you’re doing an amazing job! Love your content and your project!
Acting on the deer problem with fencing seems very standard and not much to discuss. The otter is more complex as it is also a guest that you want to have. Not sure how rare the birds are but it must be a balance with not losing rare birds vs gaining otters. If it is birds that is all over then I say let them be otter food!
Catch 22 this one. As an angler having gone through a family of otters closing a carp syndicate with over 40k of stock being eaten in less than 6 weeks I sit on the side of doing whatever is possible to keep them out. Otters will now eat anything and fish sometimes are not their no1 dinner of choice. As us carp anglers now say. No fence, no fishery. But for you it's protecting all aspects of the lake including viv and Simons babies.
So I would suggest that you contact Dave Webb from the UKWOT - uk wild otter trust. He will be more than happy to advise on the fence weak areas etc. it is about working together. Dave helped us out loads. They will defo be targeting your lake and even with an electric or full fence. It's not 100% full proof. They have a massive range and you'll probably have more than one family transitting your lake. They will continue to test your fence until they get in or even take a whack if they have to. There's a lot of pollution and other predation devastating rivers etc so they are only exploiting the environment. Good luck but would defo contact Dave for advise.
Really interesting learning about the otters and deers. I guess it’s a fine balance between welcoming wildlife on the site and wildlife damaging the site, so wish you all the best going forward and hopefully the site can get a bit more established with these protective measures in case.
It is good if the Otters are IN your lake but it is bad if the Otters are somehow ON your lake, like Jesus Christ himself, walking on water because then that would be "Otterly Ridiculous!" If it's a business then it has to protect the interests which means a fence in the same way if I was farming some vegetables I'd put up a rabbit-proof fence or deer deterrent to stop them eating the produce. With that said, scale is important, if making a giant lake like this, then ideally another lake for wildlife would be alongside well nearby that caters to the wildlife in place of this one? If I was farming I'd ensure I have space for my veg but also space for wildlife and probably a ratio where what I produce or use is x10 smaller than what nature is given over for or some such logic. Eg the Otters should have a big River that is intact along with it's own flood plain which is kind of what you conclude right? Do you think Beavers will help if they create multiple natural ponds along Riparian systems? Yup got to look after the Rivers and avoid pollution: You're right on the ball with the bigger landscape picture that fits businesses and Nature esp. those lovely Otters.
@@tomorrowsforests A friend of mine has a stream fed pond on his land. I spent the last couple of weekends helping him with ground clearance while a JCB removes the build up of silt so we can get it to its true potential. We have 400 trees arrving from woodtrust soon to help with the woodland management side of things. I'd love to do something on this scale!!!
throughout human history: nature took care of itelf ... 2024: humans have taken over and destroyed nature so much that the only time it can exist is if a "group of people" is "super passionate" about "building a lake".
This project is absolutely brilliant. Just out of interest are you feeding the fish you stocked or just letting them have their naturals you have setup already. They obviously enjoying the shallows rooting grubbing through all the weed hunting natural neutrision
When we first stocked the fish we fed due to there being almost zero weed and natural food, as the weed has come up we have weened off the feed. We are using the carps weight as an indicator of how well the whole eceosytem is doing. Thinking being.. if they are gaining weight, lots of naturals = healthy ecosytem.
