Bournville Community Angling Club has recently made a number of improvements to the Rowheath pool, which they lease from Bournville Village Trust (BVT).

Improvements have included creating 24 eco-friendly floating islands with hydroponic planting to naturally improve the water quality and provide a better habitat for wildlife.

Some of this work has been funded by the Environment Agency, thanks to a £5,000 grant secured by the Club.  

Now the Club is looking at further works to restore the natural balance of the pool and make sure it’s protected for the future.

Adam Moorcroft, a member of the Angling Club, said: “Visitors to Rowheath may have seen cormorants visiting the pond in recent years. Usually considered sea birds, there has been an explosion of cormorants arriving in their tens of thousands from the Baltics during the winter months for easy pickings on UK still waters, including at Rowheath pool, to a devasting unsustainable affect.

“We have continued to work closely with Bournville Village Trust and the Environment Agency to manage this. Whilst there are many approved ways of controlling the predation, BVT, as owners of the pool, have chosen to take the most sensitive and least intrusive approach, approved by the RSPCB and Wildlife Trust, to restore the natural balance of the pool and ensure its future.

“By installing ropes just above the pool, we hope to protect the future loss and stress to the fish by providing refuge from the unwanted predators. The ropes will be completely removeable and temporarily positioned from November to March, when public footfall is at its lowest and the visiting predators are at their highest. They are purposely visible polypropylene ropes that sit around three to four feet above the water to ensure they do not to interfere with the ducks and other resident waterfowl that use the pool.”

If you have any questions or feedback, please speak with a member of Bournville Community Angling Club or BVT’s Estates team by calling 0300 333 6540 or email enquiries@bvt.org.uk

Bournville Community Angling Club has been running for well over 20 years and currently has 35 members, with five remaining spaces left this year. If you’re interested in joining, please speak to committee members who meet around the pool most mornings at 10:30am.

The Club lease the lake from Bournville Village Trust, one of the Midlands’ longest-serving independent charitable trusts. As part of the lease, the Club manage the lake.

Fishing at the lake is available to non-club members every day, apart from Wednesday mornings and afternoons. To fish, you must have a rod fishing license from the Environmental Agency and pay £5 per day to Bournville Community Angling Club (collected pool side).

Money the club charge to use the lake is ploughed back into managing the lake and surrounding environment.