Pedalos mark start of Spring at Walsall Arboretum

The pedalos, shaped as swans, are back out once again at the arboretum's lake to signal the upturn in weather.

This is just the third year that the boats have been back in use after a two-decade-plus lay-off and their return has been welcomed by users of the beauty spot.

The boats, which were brought back to a huge fanfare, look here to stay as they were set afloat by popular demand again this year.

Lynne Hemming, chair of the Friends of Walsall Arboretum User Group, said: "The swans are a key sign of spring coming around for us at Walsall Arboretum, I think they are great.

"They are for the young people mainly but they do brighten up the place, they are just something different.

"They go hand-in-hand with the arboretum for me and I am glad to see them brought back this year." The boats returned to Hatherton Lake in 2015 just as the boathouse at the arboretum was restored as part of a £7.9 million revamp.

As part of the redevelopment, old illuminations scaffolding was removed from around the edges of the water and a pontoon installed in front of the boathouse.

Fishing

Boating and fishing in the summer and ice-skating in the winter first took place at the lake around 1835.

But boating was scrapped at the arboretum after the death of a teenager in the mid-1990s.

In 1996 15-year-old Surinder Singh Somal, from Birmingham, suffered heart failure after falling into the icy water when the boat he was in flipped over.