Pressmennan Lake is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the his ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. It is an artificial reservoir constructed in 1819 by a Mr Nesbit who dammed the streams flowing into the gully, it was said to be well stocked with

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

and

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

. It lies in a gully in the

Lammermuir Hills The Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name "Lammermuir" comes from the Old English ''lambra mōr'', meaning "moorland of the lambs". Geology The Lamm ...

, above the village of Stenton in

. It is roughly in length but less than broad. It is one of only a few bodies of water in Scotland known as lakes; the others include the Lake of Menteith and the Lake of the Hirsel, only the Lake of Menteith is a natural body of water. The woodland in the surrounding valley was cut down in 1623 by a servant of Isobel Hepburn, Lady Bass, mother of the owner George Hepburn. The

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

halted the felling, arguing that the woods were home to deer for the king's sport.''The Melros Papers'' vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1837), pp. 528-9. The woods on the southern shore of the lake have been owned by the

Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972. The Woodland Tr ...

since 1988. The Woodland Trust Reserve covers an area of around south of the village of Stenton on the northern slopes of Deuchrie Dod, one of the

. The mixed woodland in the reserve is said to contain some of the last remnants of the ancient woodland which clothed much of Scotland before it was cleared. The lake and woods are home to a variety of wildlife including deer, otters and bats. The woods are one of the few places in East Lothian where

common redstart The common redstart (''Phoenicurus phoenicurus''), or often simply redstart, is a small passerine bird in the genus '' Phoenicurus''. Like its relatives, it was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family, (Turdidae), but is now known to b ...

nests and in 2006 were host to the first record of Iberian chiffchaff in Scotland.

References

External links

Pressmennan Wood at The Woodland Trust
{{authority control Reservoirs in East Lothian