Plug pulled on marine swimming lake to remove silt

A popular swimming lake has been drained for its annual silt removal.

Clevedon's Marine Lake in North Somerset takes seven hours to empty and will be closed to swimmers for a week.

Marlens, the charity which takes care of the lake, says it is "essential" for the maintenance of the lake.

Tim Clouter is a trustee in charge of maintenance said: "It's quite fun to watch because it's really powerful."

Local people were invited to help rescue fish from muddy puddles

Mr Clouter added that the process of clearing the lake of silt is necessary because the tide will flush the rock pool out.

"The tide is full of silt and it settles," he said.

The pool's wall has two gates that can open to let the water out over the course of seven hours.

Keen swimmer Ginny Royston volunteered to clear the mountains of seaweed before it was emptied.

Ms Royston, who has been using the pool for the last 10 years, was not squeamish about the possibility of coming across an eel.

“Someone was really struggling trying to remove the seaweed with a rake,” she said.

“I thought it would be easiest to get in the water and throw it up on to the side, it really warmed my core up.”

She added: “I don’t mind eels, the only sad thing was all the little bit of plastic stuck in it.”

On Wednesday, local people were invited to help rescue fish from muddy puddles and remove litter or find valuables.

"Quite a few people have lost wedding rings and jewellery," Mr Clouter said. "We do ask when people come with a metal detector to be honest. If you find cash, you can keep that."

On Thursday, a digger will scoop up the mud and chuck it back into the sea.

The next tide will fill it back up with water.

"It roars, it's fantastic: a long waterfall," Mr Clouter said. "You get a crowd watching it."