Bala Lake, or Llyn Tegid in Welsh, is a lake in Gwynedd. The glacially formed lake is the largest natural body of water in Wales at four miles long by a mile wide. The lake is famous for its deep and yet clear waters.. The lake is protected wildlife site. The Lake has abundant pike, European perch, trout, eel and the rare gwyniad. It is home to the very rare mollusc Myxas glutinosa - the Glutinous snail. It’s also allegedly the home to a lake serpent called Teggie , taken from Llyn Tegid, the Welsh name for the .Her last big film appearance was back in 1976, and, aside from some sightings by fishermen and a submarine search by a Japanese film crew in 1999, she seems quite shy.
But Arwel Morris could change all that. He manages Bala's lake and, like police chief Brody in Jaws, he spends much of his time nervously eyeing the water from a watchtower. "I have not seen anything in 12 years, but Dowie Bowen, my predecessor, did." Mr Bowen's story : "I was looking out at the lake and saw this thing coming towards the shore," he says. "It was at least 8ft long, similar to a crocodile, with its front and rear ends about 4ins above the water." He rushed to the shore but found nothing. One windsurfer recently reported being strangely "lifted out of the water". And many boating accidents have been attributed to the beast.
, Other stories in clued that of Paul and Andrew Delaney, while fishing from a small boat on the lake in March 1995 They were visiting from London and unaware of Teggie reports. Too their great surprise a small head that appeared at the lake's surface only 80 yards or so away, then proceeded to raise itself on a long slender neck until it was about 10 ft above the surface. This and other reports prompted an investigation of the lake later that same year by a Japanese TV crew, who obtained a sonar trace of a very large, unidentified object moving swiftly under the water, but failed to film Teggie, who remains steadfastly aloof.
And Another lake monster story from Wales:April 2008
Crocodile hunters are heading for Swansea after it emerged a crocodile has been spotted patrolling the 20ft deep pool in the middle of a city business park. The creature is normally the preserve of warmer climes such as Africa, Asia and Australia, but fisherman Steve Jenkins is convinced he saw a specimen in Morfa Enterprise Zone’s Pluck Lake.Mr Jenkins, who lives nearby, was on Sunday walking his dog around the lake, which is the size of four football pitches, when he saw what he first thought was a log in the water.He said yesterday, “It was definitely a crocodile. There was a white van submerged in the water and it swam over the top of it so I had a good look. It was a metre long and had a long tail.
“I’ve been ribbed mercilessly since I reported it to the police – people whistle the tune of Crocodile Shoes when they see me. But I don’t care what people think, I know what I saw.”Natural history expert Professor Paul Brain of Swansea University, said it was possible for a crocodile to live in a relatively cold climate.He said, “If this is not a mistaken sighting, the crocodile would simply slow down or even shut down for a while during cold weather then spring back to life when the water gets warmer.“There are a lot of exotic pets out there and this could be one which outgrew its tank and the lake may have been a suitable place to dump it.”The shores of the lake were busy yesterday with potential croc-watchers, including Gwilym Games from the Fortean Zoology Centre.A spokesman for Swansea Police said officers had visited the lake but had not seen anything. RSPCA officials have also visited Pluck Lake but have not reported seeing anything like a crocodile.But Leicestershire-based Beastwatch UK says the number of sightings of non-indigenous, exotic animals in Britain has rocketed this century. The group has received more than 10,000 sightings of everything from wallabies to dangerous spiders, crocodiles and even a penguin since 2000.Carpenter Chris Mullins, the founder and co-ordinator of Beastwatch UK, attributes the surge to climate change, zoo thefts and exotic pet escapes. He said, “Our figures show that in the last eight years 51 wallabies, 13 spiders including a tarantula and a black widow, 13 racoons, 10 crocodiles, seven wolves, three pandas, two scorpions and one penguin have been spotted.”There were also reported sightings of 5,931 big cats and 332 wild boars roaming the countryside and 3,389 sharks in British waters. In the 1990s, after the craze prompted by the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle craze, more than 100 terrapins were found in Cardiff’s Roath Park Lake. When the pets grew to the size of dinner plates the novelty wore off and they were often placed in the nearest watercourse. The National Terrapin Project’s 1997 survey revealed that Roath Park contained 125 of these unwanted pets – more than any other urban lake. When they demonstrated a liking for chick eggs, small animals and birds – not to mention biting human fingers – many were rounded up and sent off to a terrapin centre in Italy.
Could Teggie be an overgrown unwanted exotic pet? Any explanation is usable at the moment, until further evidence comes forth.
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