Fishers Green is a

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

to the north of the town of

Waltham Abbey Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and E ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, in the parish of Waltham Abbey. It lies on the

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...

Description

In the years following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

much of the flood plain was given over to

gravel extraction A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used eith ...

. The resulting lakes form part of the

River Lee Country Park The River Lee Country Park is located in the Lee Valley Park and is managed by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Covering on either side of the River Lee Navigation between Waltham Abbey and Broxbourne, it is an area of lakes, watercourse ...

wetland reserve and the

Turnford and Cheshunt Pits The Turnford and Cheshunt Pits is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Cheshunt in Hertfordshire and Essex and covers a total of 428.17 acres (173.28 ha).SSSI A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

. The lakes are popular for

angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniqu ...

and

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

and are an important wildlife site. Seventy Acres Lake provides the ideal habitat for many species of birds and is the home of the national

bittern Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' in Old English; the word "bittern" ...

watchpoint. Two watercourses flow through the locality; a natural channel of the River Lea known as the Old River Lea and the

River Lee Flood Relief Channel The Lee Flood Relief Channel (FRC) is located in the Lea Valley and flows between Ware, Hertfordshire, and Stratford, east London. Work started on the channel in 1947 following major flooding and it was fully operational by 1976. The channel in ...

. The Old River Lea is nationally renowned for its

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprinid ...

and chub

and is one of only four rivers in the UK where barbel are an indigenous species. In March 2012 an

angler Angler may refer to: * A fisherman who uses the fishing technique of angling * ''Angler'' (video game) * The angler, ''Lophius piscatorius'', a monkfish * More generally, any anglerfish in the order Lophiiformes * '' Angler: The Cheney Vice Pres ...

landed a chub from the River Lea, equalling the largest recorded from a British river. Incorporated into the Holyfield Lake (Langridge), is the River Lee Flood Relief Channel forming part of a flood management area managed by the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

. The Lee Valley Farms and the visitor centre are located at Fishers Green in Stubbins Hall Lane. They are owned and managed by the

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) is a statutory body that is responsible for managing and developing the long, Lee Valley Regional Park. The park was established by Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1967. The headquarters of the a ...

and are open to the public.

Access

Fishers Green is north of

on the B194 road known as the ''Crooked Mile'' at this point. Access is at Stubbins Hall Lane to the west of the road. Pedestrian and cycle access to the site is by public paths from

Cheshunt railway station Cheshunt is a National Rail and London Overground station in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England. On the National Rail network it is on the West Anglia Main Line, from London Liverpool Street and situated between and . On the London Overground net ...

.Walking routes
Retrieved 6 August 2014

References

External links

Fishers Green Sailing Club
{{coord, 51.705631, N, 0.009613, W, display=title Lee Valley Park Birdwatching sites in England