Day 1: 21st July 2003

By the reports taken from individual witnesses Richard who is the zoology expert for the Centre of Fortean Zoology believes the creature habiting Roman View Lake to possibly be a Spectacled Caiman.

I arrived at Roman View 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 asked 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 snatch pole.

Our away team circled as much of the lake as we were able 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 thermal measuring device to see if there were any fluctuations in the waters temperature, in case the cold blooded reptile were to seek 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 snatch 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 travelling 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 again looking for any signs of tracks etc, the same as the day previously.

The boat team 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 I believe he said, although he couldn’t put his hand on his heart and say it was a crocodilian, it may only have been a large Pike said Mark.

At approx 18:00 hrs there was a crime-watch styled reconstruction of the events which had originally brought Roman View Lake to the attention of the Fortean Team and the Media.

The 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:

If there is anything in the lake at Roman View it didn’t make itself known to us, bar the once 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 Roman View Lake.

Chris Mullins
Exotic Wildlife Coordinator for Beastwatch UK
www.beastwatch.co.uk

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