Public access

Blagdon Lake is private property and a SSSI. Aside from fishermen, the only members of the public allowed access are those withbirdwatching permits. These allow birdwatchers to enter the Company's private land such as the reservoir enclosures and also to use access roads, paths and bird hides which are not normally open to the public for operational or conservation reasons.

These permits are now only available to members of recognized ornithological and naturalist societies. This is not a new rule; it had simply fallen into disuse and is now being re-applied because the use of the permits was being widely abused.

In recent years, we have become increasingly concerned about the significant level of disturbance caused to wildlife by people using birdwatching permits to do almost anything other than simply watch birds in peace and quiet -- uncontrolled dog-walking, grass ski-ing, motor-bike scrambling and mountain-biking, to name but four!

Apart from the disturbance to wildlife, we are also increasingly obliged to take safety and security issues into account when allowing access to our property.

Bristol Water does all it can to allow and encourage public access to the lakes, while working hard to protect what people have come to see and enjoy. In recent years, we have greatly increased public access at both Chew and Blagdon.

The same permit rule applies to all our lakes and reservoirs.

Bristol Water Corporate affairs