Yew Tree Tarn lies by the side of the A593 road from Coniston to Ambleside and that fact could make it the most photographed tarn in the Lake District although the nearby, and ever popular, Tarn Hows would run it close for the happy snapper. One can always tell, without even getting out of the car as you motor past how much of
a breeze there is from the ripples or stillness of the water, but not always, for this is the Lake District where weather can change in an instant.
So this is how it looked when we parked up (the road can be glimpsed to the right) and the stillness of the first photo only appeared as we were about to leave. The time of year is March so only the fir trees at the end have any green. Although the tarn may look natural surrounded by woods it is actually man made being dammed in the 1930s and stocked with trout for fishing.
Here is the water running through the sluice. The trout in Yew Tree Tarn are native brown and rainbow but in July 2010 due to a local drought volunteers from the South Lakes River Trust removed most of the fish to avoid kill off from the low oxygen and water levels. The fish were stunned with electrical signals and then fished out and moved to a nearby beck. One minute gently swimming along then, zap, they wake up in in a completely different place. A mass thought of , Yikes, where are we? Ultimately it was a good outcome for the fish as not only is the dam rather porous Yew Tree Tarn is on a fault line and water naturally leaks away through cracks in the ground. I think there are still fish in the tarn and with the Lake District propensity for rain a repeat of 2010 may not occur. A couple of years before the fish were removed water levels were low but a 24 hour wet spell soon raised the level.
The first photo was from the car park so you can see the tarn can be enjoyed without even getting out of your vehicle but it is also a
pleasant amble around on the well marked path
shown on the information board. (Yew Tree Tarn is marked with the yellow arrow)
