ANGLERS were sick with disgust to find countless fish gasping for breath and dying inside Barrhead's showpiece Balgray Reservoir.

The dam had been drained, and in their desperation to save some of the fish - said to include brown trout, bursting with eggs - the anglers tried to carry those still living to the remaining pool of water.

Now Barrhead councillor Danny Devlin has taken up their case with Scottish Water, which is said to have ignored the threat to the dam's previously thriving fish population to carry out draining.

He says horrified residents see the destruction as a mini eco-disaster, and are demanding to know how the park which includes the reservoir can still be touted as a champion of wildlife and the environment after such a blunder.

However, a Scottish Water spokesman said: "Contractors for Scottish Water were last month carrying out some essential repair and maintenance work at Balgray reservoir dam, which is a raw water reservoir that is redundant and is not used for the water supply.

"While they were carrying out this work, an adjacent reservoir, Coalhall reservoir, which is also redundant and is connected to Balgray reservoir, was inadvertently drained of much of its water.

"We were informed that some fish at Coalhall reservoir were in distress and we took immediate action to mitigate the situation.

"Over a period of several days, contractors for Scottish Water caught fish in Coalhall reservoir and transferred them to Balgray reservoir and tankered water into Coalhall reservoir from another reservoir to raise the water level at Coalhall reservoir.

"Heavy rainfall also helped raise the water level.

"On completion of the transfer of fish from Coalhall to Balgray reservoir we estimate that more than 100 fish were successfully moved.

"We estimate that between 15 and 20 fish died.

"Scottish Water liaised with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency during this incident."