Fish Stocking at the Reserve

Written by: Doug
Published: 4th April 2016, last updated: 27th January 2020

An update on Highland Title’s efforts to support more wildlife conservation on the nature reserve.

Our conservation work for the Highland Titles nature reserve has made significant gains over the last year with an improvement in the potential habitats for current and new species of wildlife at the reserve.

The first stage was to expand the reserve’s ability to support new ecosystems through the creation of a new man-made loch back in 2013. The 3 acre Lochan was built, and filled with water then due to our very acidic peat soil we then left it to naturalise to prepare for the stocking of the fish. However, setbacks occurred when just before stocking the fish in October 2014 we had over 16 inches of rain in just 48 hours, leading the Lochan to burst its banks and losing the water. We began to rebuild in February 2015 and after leaving to settle again, the Lochan was ready to be stocked.

In December 2015 we stocked the Lochan with 300 Wild Brown Trout diploid yearlings, (approximately one year old) which are able to breed, hopefully this will start this year.

Elsewhere on the reserve we restored an old smaller Lochan, this had previously been a loch so it didn’t take as long for this to naturalise the previous plant roots and seeds must have been buried in the peat, waiting for the water to return.

The results of the fish stocking

We were pleased to see that the fish stocking had an almost immediate effect on the wildlife at the reserve. Within the first week we saw Goosander and Whooper Swans both making a visit to the Loch, and frequent visits from a Heron, Mallards and an Otter.

Whooper Swan

Mallard Ducks

Heron

Frogs

What next?

The Lochan and stocking of the fish has already proved to be very successful in attracting new wildlife; Stewart, the Highland Titles Reserve Park Ranger’s ultimate goal is to see an Osprey fishing from the Lochan and capture it on film for all to see! Keep watching our Facebook page!

We’ve also been building new habitats for bugs, bees, birds and bats.

About the author

Written by: Doug

Comments on this post

Lord William Marston
14/04/16 - 17:13

Glad to see this is starting to make progress keep up the good work.
Mary Madigan
15/04/16 - 00:32

I love wildlife, as Lord and Lady we hope to come from Australia to see the beauty of the lake and birdlife otters and frogs. Great Work 🙂
Marion Gavin
15/04/16 - 18:03

I think you are doing a good job and its so nice to get wildlife back. Each one seems to attract another. I will be interested to hear about the birds, bees, bats and bugs
John Spencer
15/04/16 - 20:14

Apologies for the length,unfortunately I can’t watch the screen much because of light-sensitive eyes,so I run on a lot and due to the knock back of tablets I have to take they are wiping the grey matter that helps me understand and with it goes how to knock words down yet still bring the meaning through.
This is what makes the whole project worthwhile,to see the benefits of what this is all about,myself I wish I could get there to see it but with a electric wheelchair limiting my life this will never happen.
Please carry on with this project,it shows what can be done if people work together.
Lady Françoise Sockeel
16/04/16 - 15:54

Pour le baptême de notre dernière petite fille Lady Violette, nous avons lui avons offert ainsi qu’à chacun de nos 3 autres petits enfants une parcelle de votre réserve naturelle. Nos 2 fils sont devenus Lairds aussi. Le travail que vous avez effectué depuis le début de votre association est phénoménal! Nous vous remercions de vos newsletters si complètes! Nos sommes vraiment très heureux de voir s’agrandir vos terres préservées et avec quelles réflexions écologiques abouties et efficaces vous gérez ce patrimoine privilégié. Merci pour votre terre des Highlands, votre patrimoine environnemental, la faune et la flore que vous aidez à reconstruire pour nous-même et nos générations futures.Vous pouvez être fiers de votre travail, vous le faites bien! Bravo ! Nous espérons venir vous rencontrer prochainement. Bien cordialement. Lady F
David Edward Martin
15/01/21 - 10:56

Hello David martin from Scotland here I just love going walks locally and seeing all types of nature, especially with the kids and younger family. Does anyone know how this fantastic stocking of diploid trout made to the lochan helping the eco system and is there anything I could do to help the ecosystem of my local balgray reservoir east Renfrewshire? Even stocking 1,000 minnows or sticklebacks would attract all kinds of species of birds and fish, diploid trout are a great idea because they’re natural and can reproduce years to come.

Tia

David Martin