Pair from across pond make Shropshire lake their home

Karen Faulkner was walking around The Flash in Priorslee, Telford, with her two children when she spotted the pair sunbathing by the side of the water.

Mrs Faulkner said she has seen them on several occasions while the weather has been warm, and wondered where they came from.

She said: "We often like to walk around The Flash for some exercise, to feed the ducks, or to visit the park.

"Year after year it has always been the same, ducks, ducks and more ducks.

"Then one day when my mother was visiting, she took her dog out for a walk around the Flash with my son, Leo, and spotted a turtle or large terrapin basking in the sun on a wooden frame in the water under the hanging baskets."

Mrs Faulkner added: "Since then, we have seen two in that spot, one measuring around eight inches long and the other around 10 inches.

"After talking to some local people and dog walkers, we have heard that there may be three."

The terrapins have been confirmed by experts as a breed called a yellow-bellied slider, a native of the south-eastern United States, like Florida.

Scott Adams, owner of Exotic Zoo in Donnington, said there is no reason why the terrapins could not have been there for a decade.

He said: "These will probably have been released by someone who no longer wanted to look after them as pets.

"Unfortunately, I hear quite regularly about people feeding turtles or terrapins in lakes and ponds.

"They are meat eaters so will be feeding on bugs, insects and young fish. They are not meant to be there so it will have an effect on the local wildlife, mainly through eating these young fish."

Telford & Wrekin Council spokeswoman Emily Knightley said: "We do know that there are turtles in there, they are in most of the lakes around Telford."

She added: "They are left-overs from people's pets and have been there for a long time.

"We have no obligation to move them unless Natural England tell us they are having a detrimental effect to the environment."