Post by Dave on Nov 17, 2013 12:22:14 GMT
Autumn Colours Of Decoy Lake & Woods
Looking at Decoy today its hard to believe it was once a clay quarry but now supports a wealth of wildlife, with the main habitats being ponds, streams, fen, wet woodland and heath woodland.
Ball clay was found at Decoy in the late 19th century and the clay was both mined and quarried at the site from 1850 until 1965. When the quarrying ceased the pit quickly filled with water and the bare clay surrounding much of it slowly became vegetated again. It is thought the area became known as Decoy after an earlier lake there at which ducks were lured into a 'decoy' and then caught and killed for food.
As a young teenager growing up in Newton Abbot I remember going to the old quarry site a few years after it closed down. We had to go through a gap in the hedge to gain access to the site and the old quarry pit had already filled up to the brim with water. We built an old raft from wood we found on the site and never for a second gave a thought to the danger we might be in. I’m not sure how deep the lake is, but someone once told me it is over 600 feet deep and not a lake one should play on as a child.
So much hard work was put in to create the Decoy Country Park and what a wonderful place it now is, it’s a joy to spend some time there and it just goes to show what can be done to an old quarry site.
Walking around the park you might be lucky to see many badger setts or fox earths, buzzards, ravens, crows, jays and woodpeckers along with smaller woodland birds such as warblers, finches and robins In the many ponds at the site there are newts, common frogs, toads and dragonflies. The Lake itself is also home to a large population of breeding mallards, coots and moorhens, swans and Canada geese.
The Devon Windsurf & Canoe Centre is based at Decoy and have their own building close to the main lake, there is also a wonderful children’s play area and close by three football pitches that are used by a number of Newton Abbot based teams.
When you leave the lake side area there are a number of well sign post routes you can take, the longest I believe is only around a mile and a half and all lead back to the lake eventually.
I took the longest route and saw a number of squirrels playing and a robin that was up in a tree. I was surprised not to hear many bird calls as I walked around, or see any other type of wildlife.
Back at the lake I bought some food and a drink from the kiosk that is there and sat on a bench over looking the lake. A very pleasant morning spent in Decoy park but it was time to drive the very short distance to Homers Heath to watch the Buckland match. Shame they did not play well and win the match as if they had of done, it would have been the most perfect day out.
