Keep looking for any further updates below
Photo 1: The Lake,
22nd June 2003
Intro:
Late in the evening of
20th June 03, I received an email from Jonathan Downes from the Centre for
Fortean Zoology, about a Crocodile type creature, that had been sighted over
in the West Midlands area, this was my very first close to home chance of
an investigation and with it being so close I just couldn't turn down this
opportunity, so off the wife and I went on the 22nd June to Churchbridge in
Cannock armed with binoculars, camera, camcorder and plaster of paris, to
see if we could either see the creature ourselfs and get it on film, or at
least find some sort of evidence of a Crocodilian living wild near to Canock
Chase.
Photo 2: This young lady drew warning posters, alerting people of the Crocodilian in the lake.
Report:
Sunday 22nd June 2003, the wife and I went to Staffordshire to see
if we could find any evidence of a crocodilian living free over in Cannock,
thanks to Jon director of the "Centre for Fortean Zoology" alerting
me of the fact. It was a fairly quite day and visability was good, with just
the odd couples on Croc-Watch, neither of which had anything to report. Swans
and Coots were the only occupants of the Lake that could be seen that day.
Here are our
Findings:
I spoke to one or two of the locals there, one gentleman told me
there had been a small Caiman found only 2 years previously near to the old
DIY place only a short distance away, this I understand is now the B&Q
warehouse, the Caiman was apparently caught by RSPCA officials, so I shall
endeavor to investigate this further.
Also two youngsters told me they had seen the Croc, whilst there they pointed out some activity (Splashes in the water) I watched for a good while, but typically all I was able to see was a shoal of carp playing on the waters surface.
"Was this the Croc everyone was seeing?"
Photo 3: Looks simular to slipway into the water, although I'd have thought that if a Crocodilian was responsible the ground would be more smoother, this to me looks more like the produce of Swans, with the feathers and s**t but I'm no expert on this matter
Photo 4: Is where something had defintely been resting up on the bank, but what? again I could'nt say, so I'll leave this one for the experts as well, although the given area was approx 8ft, so could it be?......
Photo
4 : A pipe I found by the waters edge, it measured 12" diameter,
but whilst this may be a good hiding place for a small Crocodilian it wouldn't
be anywhere large enough for the one reported to be seen in the Lake.
There was also a very interesting bridge which led to a small stream covered by foliage and passed alongside a farm, I thought this was an extremely good hiding place if there was such a creature there, also there are groups of reeds of which hide smaller ponds around the outskirts that surround the lake itself, these are unapproachable unless you're wearing waders and there's someone there to support you with a line, but with the possiblities of a Crocodilian in there I wasn't going to take any chances.
Summary:
No hard evidence of a Crocodilian type creature was discovered, but
lack of evidence does not mean lack presence, as already stated there are
many places surrounding the lake that were unapproachable and it is these
places a crocodilian would most likely be resting up, as they prefer cover
and to be left undisturbed.
So is there a Crocodilian
living free in this Staffordshire Lake?.... Well
I'll keep an open mind and see if anything else surfaces.
Chris Mullins
Beastwatch UK
www.beastwatch.co.uk
Update: 27th
June 2003
Well I spoke with someone from the RSPCA and was put in touch with an organisation
called "PROTEOUS", these people are the ones that rescue exotic
reptilians and I was told they do remember a callout concerning a Crocodilian
approx 2 years ago around that area, but nothing was found.
Update: 1st
July 2003
One Gentleman I spoke to that day on the 22nd June and gave one of
our cards out to, contacted me via email to say that on the Monday after,
he went down to the pool with his camcorder to see what he could get on film
and caught something big and long, moving like something out of a survival
programme, this has since been sent the to Central Studio's and broadcast
on the news over there.
Further Cannock Investigation:
21st July 2003
Day
1:
By the reports taken from individual witnesses Richard who is an expert
in the field of zoology and represents the Centre of Fortean Zoology said
believes the creature habiting the lake to possibly be a Spectacled Caiman.
I arrived at the lake at approx 13:30 hrs, by the time I had unpacked my things from the car, and had a quick sandwich I went down to the lake with my daughter, we sat for awhile looking at the lake armed with binoculars and the video camera, at approx 14:15 hrs Jon arrives along with the rest of the CFZ team, I went over to greet them and Jon gave a quick briefing on what he wanted to do that day. He told the "Boat Team" to pump up the inflatable dingy, while the "Away Team" were to walk the perimeter of the lake looking for signs of footprints and slides etc
I went with the "Away Team" which was led by Richard who was the zoology expert and armed with a catch pole.
.
The
away team note Richard with the Catch Pole.
Our
team circled as much of the lake as were abled and placed small flags as markers
as near as possible to any place along the bank the crocodilian may have used
for resting up etc, these came in to use later on that evening,
Mark also covered the perimeter of the lake testing the waters surface temperature with an electronic non-contact thermal measuring device, to see if there were any fluctuations in the waters temperature, in case our cold blooded reptile were to seek refuge in a warmer spot.
The
"Boat Crew" went out in the dingy armed with a fish detector to
scan the lake and estimate the depth and overall layout of the bottom, this
was apparently only deep enough to wade across.
Evening time drew in and it started to get dark around 21:30 hrs, there was an away team armed with head torches which went with Richard who again was armed again with the catch pole and head torch, looking around the lake at those points which had been marked with flags earlier to see if they were able to spot the croc from the bank. Jon and I were to shine two strong spotlights around the lakes perimeter continually from left to right and back again, this went on for a good couple of hours whilst the boat team were out in their dingy armed with a spotlight and a video camera, nothing was seen that night except an unidentified flying object (UFO) which was traveling in a north/westerly direction high above our heads at approx 23:50 hrs, this was captured on video by two parties myself and someone else, the footage I took of the object was given to Jon. The evening then came to a close around 01:00 hrs, we arranged to meet up the following day at approx 09:30 hours, after which I left to go home and the rest of the team were to return to their bed and breakfast in the near vicinity,
Day 2:
I arrived at approx 09:40 hrs and the rest of the team were already
there so I began to unpack my video camera and binoculars etc, we were to
start with another briefing from Jon and then under his instruction the "Away
Team" again covered the perimeter of the lake looking for any signs of
tracks etc, the same as the day previously.
The "Boat Team" Graham and Mark, went out again in the dingy armed with the fish detector once more to see if there had been any fluctuations in the readings from the day previous, all the readings were the same, but later on in the afternoon whilst out in their dingy, Mark saw something raise it’s head out of the water at the side of the boat, the head of the creature was approx 12 inches in length and greenish brown Mark almost fell out of the boat. Then I began to splutter and swear. “Graham, I’ve seen something, I don’t believe it, I think I’ve seen a f*****g Crocodile …” although he couldn't put his hand on his heart and say it was a crocodilian, as it may only have been a large Pike But who knows?
At approx 18:00 hrs there was a crime-watch styled reconstruction of the events which had originally brought the lake to the attention of the Fortean Team and the Media.
Our "Away Team" were to return with no news of any tracks or other and collected the flags in to return to base, around 21:00 we all started to pack everything away and Jon asked everyone to meet up the following day at the German War Memorial in Cannock where several BHM sightings had occurred. I left again for home at approx 21:30 hrs.
Day 3,
We all were late the following day and I was especially later than
everyone else so this part I cannot really remark on as I missed the majority
of the exercise which was saddening for me as I would have liked some of that
experience under my belt.
Summary:
The Cannock Croc
If there is anything in this lake, it didn't make itself known to us, bar
the one time that Mark had his encounter with some unknown aquatic life but
there wasn't substantial enough evidence however to say it was a Crocodilian,
although just because there is lack of evidence this doesn’t mean a
crocodilian isn’t in this Staffordshire lake.
Chris
Mullins
Beastwatch UK
www.beastwatch.co.uk