Drayton Basset Pits (1 Viewer)

[Reader]

Drayton Basset Pits lies some 15 miles from the centre of Birmingham, near to the Kingsbury Water park complex. It is a series of pits that is part of a working pit. The o/s map ref is (Landranger map No 139) SK 221 990. It is also very close to the Drayton Manor theme park.

My directions to get to there would be as follows. Come off at junction 9 of the M42. Take the road for Tamworth and Lichfield (the A446). Continue along this road until you reach an island (roughly about a mile). Turn right at this island and take the A4091, which passes the Belfrey Golf course on your left. Eventually this road becomes a dual carriageway. Follow this until just before the dual carriageway ends. (It is not far past Middleton Hall, which will be on your right). About 100 yards before the end of the dual carriageway there is a cut through the central reservation. Turn right here and you will see, across the road from you, a metal gate leading to a path. Park up on the grass verge. Take the path behind the gate. Check out all around here as anything can be in the trees and fields. This path goes on for about half a mile before you go over a canal bridge. Drayton Basset lies before you. (These pits lie between the river Tame on one side and the Fazely canal on the other)

You will see a small bridge, to your right, going over a conveyor belt. Cross over it and you have a choice. Walk to the right and follow until the conveyor belt ends. Follow the path to the left and eventually you will see an iron bridge spanning the river Tame. It has a sign saying no public access but ignore this as anyone can go over there. You will be able to view both the river and the main, and deepest pit. This is where most of the ducks, gulls and terns congregate. Come back on yourself and follow the conveyor belt back for about 100 yards where you will come to a track that you had passed by earlier. It will be on your right (on your left when you first arrived). Take it and this leads to a very long walk that takes in many pits. This is the start of most of the reserve. When you come back to this point, if you are still feeling fit, go back to the conveyor belt and turn right and go past the small bridge you crossed over when you arrived. You can follow this track for some way and take in even more pits, returning back the way you came.

At the weekend the work stops and the reserve is peaceful, apart from a few thousand birds. In the week it is busy with huge earthmovers carrying their loads around the site. Huge amounts of birds visit this site, as there are many differing types of pits for them to use. Deep, shallow, some with flashes attached, some with large islands and a few with small islands. Banks can be steep and some have flat shingle /mud banks ideal for waders. They can be reed lined or bare.

There is one problem and that is there isn’t any cover between you and the birds so they spot you as soon as you arrive. The birds then tend to move to the furthest points away from you. If you find a comfortable spot and stand your ground for a while they will get used to you and start to come in closer. The other problem is that if there is a wind about then there is hardly anything to stop it from playing havoc with your scope. Digiscoping can be very hard here given these conditions.

There has been some extremely rare birds drop in from time to time. Last year there was a purple patch for waders. In a 7 day stint the reserve was host to three amazing waders. First was a Temminks Stint around the 18th May. 6 days later an unbelievable record with a Least Sandpiper arriving and staying for a few days and the very next day a Pectoral Sandpiper made a two-day appearance. Add to this Whimbrel, Black Tern, Marsh Harrier, plus many others, and you can see that anything can turn up here. Ros & I had two Short eared Owls extremely close to us here last year as well.

This reserve actually spans two counties, Staffs and Warwickshore. Last year, when the Least Sandpiper arrived there were many birders praying that it would fly over a couple of pits and land on the pit named as Fishers Mill pool. If had done so then a mega rarity could have been claimed for that Warwickshire, but the bird never did and stayed faithfull to the island it had landed on until it eventually left.

You could easily spend a whole day here and I highly recommend that you place this site in any itinery you may wish to do if you are in this area.

Below is one photo of a very small part of the reserve. I will post others in the gallery and a thread I will put in the Birding Day out forum.

 

[pigsonthewing]

It has a sign saying no public access but ignore this as anyone can go over there.

Perhaps there's nothing to physically stop them, but this is still a working site, and dangerous.

The owners have been incredibly obliging, allowing authorised access for scientific survey work, and public access when the rarities you note elsewhere appeared.

Thoughtless acts of trespass, and messages such as yours appearing on the web, will erode and ultimately may end such goodwill.

I would hope the board owners will in future refuse to publish incitements to such unwise behaviour.

 

[Steve]

Andy
whilst your views are welcome, in this instance I disagree with you, john is well within his rights to write about the site mentioned. However your comments of safety Re"a working site" are worthy of note.

I may be wrong but your post does whiff a bit of "keep out" Its for selected birders, west Midland birders club Only?????
QUOTE:

"I would hope the board owners will in future refuse to publish incitements to such unwise behaviour"

Answer: If the landowner has No problem , Nor do We.

 

[pigsonthewing]

john is well within his rights to write about the site mentioned.]

I didn't say he shouldn't write about the site. I suggested that he should not encourage people to tresspass, dangerously, and at risk of causing access to the site to be further restricted.

When someone is killed, after following advice on the board, and ignoring a warning sign at the site, will you be prepared to accept partial liability, in a court, for their death?

I may be wrong but your post does whiff a bit of "keep out" Its for selected birders, west Midland birders club
Only?????

Yes, you are wrong. Where did I say anything about the West Midland Bird Club? WMBC members have no more rights of access than any other member of the public. When the rare Sandpipers were present, the site owners kindly allowed access to anyone with an interest, outside working hours. This happened to be brokered and stewarded by WMBC members, who gave freely of their time and expertise, but no attempt was made to restrict access to Club members only.

If the landowner has No problem , Nor do We.

..and where did I (or anyone else) say that the land owner has no problem? I am given to understand (though I cannot speak for them) that they are most concerned about trespass and the danger to trespassers, and the portrayal of the site as open to all. Why do you think they put the signs up in the first place?

The original article refers to "the reserve". It's not a reserve, and thinking of it as such can only encourage a false sense of confidence..

 

[Reader]

Andy

You should know the site well enough to know the bridge I am on about. It spans the river Tame and is well beyond the working pits. There used to be a fence across the bridge that you used to climb over now that has been taken away and on the Dosthill end some vertical girders have been put in place where you can go through. I have it on good authority, from the workers themselves on the site, that you can cross over the bridge. In fact a couple of the workers were so helpful that they were willing to go across the bridge with me to show me a couple of Buzzards that seem to have started roosting on a couple of trees.

If you have studied many of my posts in the past you will see that I don't encourage any trespassing in any way, in fact I have been actively against any idea of trespass in any way shape or form. Perhaps when you start having a go at someone you ought to check them out first. Don't pick on the odd thread where you think that you can throw a bit of muscle around as it doesn't work on this forum.

<Thoughtless acts of trespass, and messages such as yours appearing on the web, will erode and ultimately may end such goodwill.>

That statement of yours angered me. There was no need for that comment as you should have checked out your facts first. That sign has been there for years and for years responsible birders have been allowed access to that area. It is not a working area and as such you are not causing any problems.

<I would hope the board owners will in future refuse to publish incitements to such unwise behaviour.>

I hope that you don't help run West Midlands Bird club in this manner. I am a member of said club and object to your comments totally. It is uncalled for by a person of your standing and you should know better. You are very wise on a typewriter, I wonder if you talk to people face to face like that. I doubt it.

 

[simontucker]

How sad. I have always believed that "No Trespassing" applied to other people. It is amazing how territorially protective some people can get.

Right to roam - make it happen!!!!