A DISTURBING report of adult geese being plucked off the surface from below has left anglers and swimmers afraid to visit one of Britain’s most picturesque lakes.
Measuring over seven miles long, Ullswater is regarded by many as the most beautiful of the Lake District’s waters, but in recent weeks, it’s hit the headlines for altogether different reasons.
Witnesses reported seeing several Greylag geese being rapidly dragged across the lake’s surface before being pulled under, leaving many to wonder what could be responsible.
A wide range of suggestions soon surfaced, with everything from giant pike to crocodiles considered. But Jeremy Wade, star of the world-famous TV series River Monsters, believes something else could be behind the attacks.
“Of course, as an angler, the first thing that springs to mind is a big pike, but I believe those who saw the incident said they would’ve recognised these fish, so that leaves a few other candidates,” he told us.
“Somebody could have dropped a Wels catfish in there at some point, and it’s a very plausible explanation. These huge fish survive as far north as Sweden, so they’re certainly not off the cards.”
But Jeremy believes another creature could be responsible, one that doesn’t have fins or scales: “An otter is an option. They’re highly opportunistic feeders, and one of them taking geese is a definite possibility.”
Of course, it’s easy to dismiss the reports as pure sensationalism, but in Jeremy’s experience, such stories often contain more than a grain of truth.
“I once saw a very strange creature in an Amazonian lake, but nobody believed me,” he added. “A few years later, I managed to get a picture of it, and prove them wrong. It turned out to be a deformed river dolphin, but the point is that stories like this come from somewhere. Anyone who fishes knows that each day is unique, and we can all recount something strange we’ve seen.”
