The Creature of Astbury mere

On friday 2nd of June 1995 an unusual newspaper report appeared in the Congleton Chronicle newspaper. It went on to say that a reptilian creature had been spotted swimming in the water park which had once been a sand quarry.

The creature had been spotted by a visitor to the park whose attention had been drawn to the creature due to the fact that a small group of children were throwing stones at it.

Mr John Evans who works at Astbury Water Park and who received the report from the visitor stated that the creature was not a crocodile and was about 3 feet in length. Mr Evans went on to say that he and some of his staff attempted to catch the creature, but after donning wet suits and returning to the spot where the reptile had been seen it was nowhere to be found. Had someone released a Monitor Lizard into the mere, perhaps having grown to big to keep it in their home? One thing is for sure I don’t think I will be doing any paddling there just in case someone’s released two and started a breeding colony!