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The Monkey's Tale (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter monkeyman
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Monkeyman
Right, let's see what we can add to your list of places to visit. Firstly, along the A38 betwen Lichfield & Burton you have numerous pits and walks that include Croxhall and Barton Pits. Whitemoor Hayes has had some good birds there especially Geese and Swans and is a good place for raptors also. Walks along the rivers Trent, Dove & Mease all turn up good finds as well as the Trent & Mersey canal.
From Tamworth back across to Coleshill you have a wealth of birdlife. Kingsbury water park is one of them but also you have Drayton Bassett, Dosthill, Coton, Lea Marston, Middleton Hall, Shustoke Water Orton and Ladywalk plus walks along the rivers Tame & Blyth. Just passed the B'ham airport is a fantastic new project at Marsh Lane Marshes and already they have had some excellent birds such as Hoopoe and Temminks Stint. There are loads of walks around that area as well. Unfortunately you have to become a member and it is £30 a year to join, which I did when I went after the Hoope, which I missed.
Birmingham itself has a few places to offer. The West Midlands Bird Club has invested time and money on a project that has turned a stretch of an old rail track bed into a nature reserve within a couple of miles of the city centre at Harborne. That to has turned up some good birds. Also in Birmingham you have Edgbaston and Bartley Green reservoirs which are nationally known (Bill Oddie cut his birding teeth at Bartley Green). Parks that can turn up surprises are Cannon Hill, Tritteford, Swanshurst and Small Heath. On the edges of Birmingham you have Sandwell Valley RSPB reserve, the massive Sutton Park complex, Upper & Lower Bittel reservoirs as well as smaller reservoirs within the Birmingham boundaries, such as Brookvale and also Orton reservoirs. Just outside of Birmingham you have Uffmoor Wood, Wassel Grove, the Clent Hills and the Lickey Hills and all are superb areas to explore.
Going south of Lower Bittel you come to the smashing Upton Warren complex of pools and flashes. Around Droitwich you have the river Salwarpe walks plus the Worcester canal and the newly renovated Droitwich canal that towards the River Severn end is a protected wildlife site. Further along this you come to Ombersley and then Holt fleet where the mighty river Severn runs through. Just up from here is some prime birding habitat with Holt Prairies, Grimley old Pits, Grimley new pits, Holt fishing pools, Monkswood ( which is an excellent wood to walk through, especially in Spring)
Further around towards Bewdley you have possibly my favourite site in the Midlands, the Wyre Forest which can, and does, turn up some wonderful birds. There is a lodge here by a bridge over the old rail track bed, where the birds that either visit or fly over include, 6 different tits, Hawfinch, Crossbill, Pied Fly, Redstart, Tree Pipit, Yellowhammer, Redpoll, Siskin, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Goldcrest, Wood, Willow & Garden Warblers, Cuckoo, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, the occasional Peregrine and on the odd occasion Goshawk, all 3 Woodpeckers, Grey Wagtail, Nuthatch, both Song & MistleThrush, Jay, Bullfinch, Treecreeper, Raven plus your usual common birds. How's that for a garden list. Don't forget that along the small Dowles brook you can add Kingfisher and Dipper to your site list. The Wyre Forest loks daunting as it is huge but I know a walk that takes about a couple of hours in all that will take in all the habitats that should pick up all these birds. I have put a few Wyre Forest photo's in the gallery.
Around here you have Trimpley Reservior and its surrounding Forest, Shatterford, the nearby Habberley Wood, Nr Kidderminster, that earlier this year had Arctic, Lesser and Mealy Redpolls as well as the usual woodland birds.
A place you might not know of is right by the Merry Hill complex and is called the Fens pool complex. I used to fish here many years ago little realising how good a birding areas this was. It is like an oasis within the middle of an industrial area and can pull in some smart birds. That is on the Pensnett side of Merry Hill. On the other you have the Netherton Nature reserve also.
There are plenty more that I could include. Suffice to say that we are spoilt for choice on where to go around here. the only down side is that most of it comes alive from spring through to Autumn but goes quiet after that. Roll on Spring I say.
Right, let's see what we can add to your list of places to visit. Firstly, along the A38 betwen Lichfield & Burton you have numerous pits and walks that include Croxhall and Barton Pits. Whitemoor Hayes has had some good birds there especially Geese and Swans and is a good place for raptors also. Walks along the rivers Trent, Dove & Mease all turn up good finds as well as the Trent & Mersey canal.
From Tamworth back across to Coleshill you have a wealth of birdlife. Kingsbury water park is one of them but also you have Drayton Bassett, Dosthill, Coton, Lea Marston, Middleton Hall, Shustoke Water Orton and Ladywalk plus walks along the rivers Tame & Blyth. Just passed the B'ham airport is a fantastic new project at Marsh Lane Marshes and already they have had some excellent birds such as Hoopoe and Temminks Stint. There are loads of walks around that area as well. Unfortunately you have to become a member and it is £30 a year to join, which I did when I went after the Hoope, which I missed.
Birmingham itself has a few places to offer. The West Midlands Bird Club has invested time and money on a project that has turned a stretch of an old rail track bed into a nature reserve within a couple of miles of the city centre at Harborne. That to has turned up some good birds. Also in Birmingham you have Edgbaston and Bartley Green reservoirs which are nationally known (Bill Oddie cut his birding teeth at Bartley Green). Parks that can turn up surprises are Cannon Hill, Tritteford, Swanshurst and Small Heath. On the edges of Birmingham you have Sandwell Valley RSPB reserve, the massive Sutton Park complex, Upper & Lower Bittel reservoirs as well as smaller reservoirs within the Birmingham boundaries, such as Brookvale and also Orton reservoirs. Just outside of Birmingham you have Uffmoor Wood, Wassel Grove, the Clent Hills and the Lickey Hills and all are superb areas to explore.
Going south of Lower Bittel you come to the smashing Upton Warren complex of pools and flashes. Around Droitwich you have the river Salwarpe walks plus the Worcester canal and the newly renovated Droitwich canal that towards the River Severn end is a protected wildlife site. Further along this you come to Ombersley and then Holt fleet where the mighty river Severn runs through. Just up from here is some prime birding habitat with Holt Prairies, Grimley old Pits, Grimley new pits, Holt fishing pools, Monkswood ( which is an excellent wood to walk through, especially in Spring)
Further around towards Bewdley you have possibly my favourite site in the Midlands, the Wyre Forest which can, and does, turn up some wonderful birds. There is a lodge here by a bridge over the old rail track bed, where the birds that either visit or fly over include, 6 different tits, Hawfinch, Crossbill, Pied Fly, Redstart, Tree Pipit, Yellowhammer, Redpoll, Siskin, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Goldcrest, Wood, Willow & Garden Warblers, Cuckoo, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, the occasional Peregrine and on the odd occasion Goshawk, all 3 Woodpeckers, Grey Wagtail, Nuthatch, both Song & MistleThrush, Jay, Bullfinch, Treecreeper, Raven plus your usual common birds. How's that for a garden list. Don't forget that along the small Dowles brook you can add Kingfisher and Dipper to your site list. The Wyre Forest loks daunting as it is huge but I know a walk that takes about a couple of hours in all that will take in all the habitats that should pick up all these birds. I have put a few Wyre Forest photo's in the gallery.
Around here you have Trimpley Reservior and its surrounding Forest, Shatterford, the nearby Habberley Wood, Nr Kidderminster, that earlier this year had Arctic, Lesser and Mealy Redpolls as well as the usual woodland birds.
A place you might not know of is right by the Merry Hill complex and is called the Fens pool complex. I used to fish here many years ago little realising how good a birding areas this was. It is like an oasis within the middle of an industrial area and can pull in some smart birds. That is on the Pensnett side of Merry Hill. On the other you have the Netherton Nature reserve also.
There are plenty more that I could include. Suffice to say that we are spoilt for choice on where to go around here. the only down side is that most of it comes alive from spring through to Autumn but goes quiet after that. Roll on Spring I say.
monkeyman
Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.
Marysan> I'm glad you enjoyed the article. There are more articles in the pipeline and I've been in touch with our boffin Oliver, aka Green Fields, to arrange for some "web" pages to appear complete with photos and illustrations. As a professional designer, I get very frustrated when I can't present material the way I want it!!! 
John> Thanks for the information! :t:
I know of the places you mention, 'though I haven't been around them all yet! I think, however, you may have missed the point with regard to this section of the forum. This, and future, articles are intended to be a personal journey (ie safari; from the Arabic for journey) and my own obsevations on a small corner of this wonderful planet we live on! If you would like to help me expand this area, then please feel free to send me some of your observations and I will include them "on safari". I've enjoyed your postings so far!
Give me a day or so, folks, and God and Oliver willing, we'll have something a bit more aesthetic on your screens!
B
Al
John> Thanks for the information! :t:
I know of the places you mention, 'though I haven't been around them all yet! I think, however, you may have missed the point with regard to this section of the forum. This, and future, articles are intended to be a personal journey (ie safari; from the Arabic for journey) and my own obsevations on a small corner of this wonderful planet we live on! If you would like to help me expand this area, then please feel free to send me some of your observations and I will include them "on safari". I've enjoyed your postings so far!
Give me a day or so, folks, and God and Oliver willing, we'll have something a bit more aesthetic on your screens!
B
Al
boffin? :-C I prefer the word socially challenged 3
Oliver 'The Boffin' B
AKA Green Fields
Oliver 'The Boffin' B
AKA Green Fields
ok now I'm just scared.....
