Talking to a wirral fishery owner this morning. He told me that the current owner of Burton Mere had been trying to sell him fish and that at least one of the lakes is to be used for landfill.

Doesn't look very promising.

Landfill = reclaimed=eventually prime building land.

With a £million or two in between.

when the waters do rise the ,2 lakes on the marsh will be engulfed (approx 2020 from estimates) and the two old lakes will be where the shore line will be when the tide is up ,i very much doubt anyone would get permisson for any major developments on the site as it would be of special scientific interest like rest of the marsh

like every one else i am gutted burton is closing and wirral will be once more confined to farm pond fishing ,BUT terry knight has put his life into that place for 30 years and is perfectly entitled to take retirement ,we all know that angling lacks collective funding and i also know that terry is gutted that fishing may be no more at the mere .

and obviously he owns the fish stocks so why not sell them on

I spent a good part of my youth fishing Burton Mere and held a season ticket for many years. As only an occasional angler these days, it came as a shock when I learnt (in the News of the World!) that it had been sold to the RSPB and would be closed to anglers.

Whilst (as others have commented) it is up to Terry who he sells to, I'm not sure that I could enjoy my retirement knowing that something I'd invested 30 years of effort into, was being dismantled.

I've spoken to a couple of guys in the RSPB and their opinion is that the purchase just forms part of a long term strategy (as commented by others). The society already own much of the marsh in that area, they are simply swallowing up the bits they haven't got when they become available.

The mere, and the people who fished there regularly in the 80's/90's, could be good, bad and baffling, but next time I have a pint in my hand, I'll be raising the glass and remembering the times spent there fondly.

Me too Marto, I'll miss the old place. Have some good memories of fishing there almost twenty years ago now, with some decent fish, good company and lplenty of laughs - like the day I tried to retrieve a rig from a tree and fell into the lake and lost my glasses but then swept them up into my landing net whilst landing a fish! Lucky or what? 

Given I started this thread with  'inaccurate figures and an' unfounded' story -according to Terry-back in October, hopefully it falls to me to close it. Burton Mere R.I.P.