ANGLERS and dog walkers are pushing for improved facilities at Earlswood Common, and urging the borough council to stop interfering with the natural flow of the lakes.
Many of the fish, particularly carp, have been moved out of the top lake in recent months as council officers say they are eating bird eggs and having a detrimental effect on the wildlife.
But those who regularly use the lake say it is the council's actions that are destroying the wildlife.
Andrew Cooper, who regularly walks his dog in the area, said the council was "playing God" by deciding which lake the fish should be in.
He said: "What the council is saying is that the fish are eating bird eggs, which they are, but that is part of nature, just as the birds are eating the fish eggs."
John Potts, of the Swans and Friends Birds Rescue, agreed that even if the council emptied the lake of all the fish, they would still end up coming back. He added: "It doesn't take long for fish to get themselves going.
A spokesman from Reigate and Banstead Borough Council said: "Earlswood Common is a local nature reserve and also a Site of Nature Conservation Interest.
"The Earlswood Common Management Steering Group brings together many of the users of the common so that issues and opportunities can be discussed and agreed upon, thus avoiding potential conflicts between different groups."
Anglers have also pressed the council to improve facilities at Earlswood lakes, and called for more members to come forward to help save fishing groups. According to the Environment Agency, 7,000 angling clubs have 'died' in the south east in the past 20 years The Angling Alliance is a lobby group for local fishing clubs and is urging more to be done to protect them. "I have been lobbying the council for around five years to improve the facilities at the lakes," said John Brice, club secretary for Nutfield Marsh Angling Club, part of the alliance. "I was one of the many who was devastated that the council removed potentially one of its biggest assets [the carp] a few years ago. In these times of austerity the council could create a significant income from the lakes. But we need to all work together." A spokesman from Reigate and Banstead Borough Council said: "Earlswood Common is a Local Nature Reserve and also a Site of Nature Conservation Interest. "The area is a haven for wildlife and is used and enjoyed by many local people as it borders Woodhatch, Mead Vale, Redhill, Earlswood and South Earlswood and also linking with Salfords and the edge of Reigate. "The Earlswood Common Management Steering Group brings together many of the users of the Common so that issues and opportunities can be discussed and agreed upon, thus avoiding potential conflicts between different groups."