Tag Archives: Big Lottery Fund

Wild Rowley Hills – free family fun day tomorrow!

Tomorrow (30th July) the Friends of Rowley Hills and the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country are holding a free family fun day in Bury Hill Park; we hope to see some of you there! Have a go at our amazing treasure hunt – see if you can unravel the secret animal’s name to earn your treasure! You could also have a go at some of the fun crafts for all ages, from clay art to making wildlife headbands. Botanist Mike Poulton will be leading a free guided walk over the Rowley Hills starting at 11:30 am, highlighting some of the fantastic things on the way from butterflies through to mouse-ear wildflowers. You will also be able to meet staff from The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country and members of the Friends of the Rowley Hills to learn how we are working together to improve the hills for wildlife and the community. The Friends of Rowley Hills will have a stall selling cakes and plants too. Please note – the guided walk will not be suitable for buggies or wheelchairs as the walk will be over uneven ground and over the Portway Hill site. Please wear appropriate footwear for the guided walk as the ground is uneven and paths might be slippery if there has been recent rain.

Oxeye Daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) on bank (image © Mike Poulton)

Forthcoming events

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We’ve got loads of great events in the calendar over the next few months and we hope to see you at a few of them. The next one is a litter pick on Portway Hill tomorrow, and hopefully the weather forecast will hold for that! If you’re planning to come to any of our conservation volunteer days, please fill in your name and tick the dates you are coming to in this Doodle poll. There’s no limit to the number of people who can attend, it just gives us an idea of how many to expect!

Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Saturday 7th May 2016, 10:00am – 3:00pm. Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country for a fun day out meeting new people, helping the environment and learning new skills. We will be conducting a litter pick along Portway Hill. Meet at Kennford Close.

Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Saturday 14th May 2016, 10:00am – 3:00pm. Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country for a fun day out meeting new people, helping the environment and learning new skills. We will be improving access onsite by installing a crushed dolerite path through the Wildlife Trust-owned section of the site. Meet at St. Brades Close.

Conservation volunteer day, Thursday 19th May 2016 – venue TBC.

Geoconservation day, Portway Hill, Saturday 21st May 2016, 10:30. The Black Country Geological Society will be carrying out conservation work on Portway Hill to ensure the Rowley Rag rock exposures are not overgrown by brambles. Check their website for more information. No need to book.

Butterflies and Flora on the Rowley Hills – guided walk, Saturday 4th June 2016, 10:30am. This is a joint meeting with Sandwell Valley Naturalists Club (Sandnats); Mike Bloxham and Mike Poulton will be leading a guided walk at a peak time in the season for wildflower displays and insect life on the Rowley Hills. Walking boots are recommended and binoculars would also be useful. Meet on the roadside near the Total garage on Wolverhampton Road, just below the Brewers Fayre/KFC at the entrance to the Portway Hill site (see map below).

Butterfly walk, Portway Hill, Thursday 23rd June 2016, 11:00am – 1:00pm. In partnership with Butterfly Conservation, our Vice Chair Mike Poulton will be leading a guided walk around Portway Hill, following a route Mike wrote for the the soon-to-be published ‘Butterflies of the West Midlands‘ book. This is a peak time for butterfly activity and as long as the weather is good we should see significant numbers of different species. Walking boots are recommended and binoculars would also be useful. Meet on the roadside near the Total garage on Wolverhampton Road, just below the Brewers Fayre/KFC at the entrance to the Portway Hill site (see map below).

Rowley Hills map showing paths and access points

More Awards for All successes!

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Our recent Lottery-funded AFA (Awards for All) events have been a great success! Here’s a summary of what we’ve been up to:

On Thursday 7th April our AFA event involved planting 470 native Bluebells and 50 wild Daffodils in the woodland we have previously been working on at View Point. We also spread 250g of Red Campion seed throughout this block. In the westerly block with the path running through the middle we sowed 50g of Red Campion seed and planted about 30 native Bluebells ad hoc. We also spread 50g of Red Campion seed in the most easterly central woodland plantation block.

On the afternoon/evening of Thursday 14th April Tom and Doug from the Wildlife Trust organised a Spoon Carving event for local youth group “U-Choose Youth Project” on the Wildlife Trust site on Portway Hill. After a short guided tour of the site each of the group were given a block of wood to carve and instruction on the safe use of the carving knives. The group then set about carving their own wooden spoons. We received great feedback from their youth group leader David King who said “a really good day today on the hill….the kids loved it….we are definitely going to visit again….keep us posted with future things”.

: Spoon Carving AFA Event, Portway Hill, 14th April 2016

: Spoon Carving AFA Event, Portway Hill, 14th April 2016

: Spoon Carving AFA Event, Portway Hill, 14th April 2016

: Spoon Carving AFA Event, Portway Hill, 14th April 2016

On Saturday 16th April we had another event on View Point Open Space where 25 Hazel and 25 Field Maple were planted into the woodland block thinned previously, and Foxglove seed was sown mainly around the edge. We also spread Foxglove seeds around the path in the westerly block. 1kg of Yellow Rattle was scattered on the meadow block directly downhill from the thinned woodland. In addition a litter-pick was carried out and 2 bags of rubbish removed from site.

Welcome to new members, and upcoming events

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We’ve just about finished updating our membership system and would like to say a big WELCOME to all our new members! If you applied for membership in the past few months, we apologise that there has been a delay in processing your membership, but you should now start to receive email updates from us.

We have quite a few events happening this month and we hope you’ll be able to make it to a few:

Conservation volunteer day, View Point Open Space, Saturday 16th April 2016, 10:00am – 3:00pm. Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country for a fun day out meeting new people, helping the environment and learning new skills. We will be working to enhance the woodland plantations on site by clearing brambles, crown lifting the trees and under planting with native tree whips and woodland ground flora. Meet at the entrance to the site at the northern end of View Point; as there are very few parking spaces nearby we recommended that anyone coming by car should park out of View Point and walk to the meeting place. No need to book, just turn up!

Clean for the Queen, Massey’s Bank, East Avenue, Tividale, Saturday 23rd April, 10:00am – 1:00pm. Clean for The Queen is a campaign to clear up Britain in time for Her Majesty the Queen’s 90th birthday, which will be officially celebrated in June 2016. Join us for a litter pick to get Massey’s Bank looking spick and span! Click here for more information about the Clean for the Queen campaign; you can also contact Shane Allen for more information about this particular event on 07718 193629 or bigspringclean.sandwell@serco.com.

Conservation volunteer day, View Point Open Space, Sunday 24th April 2016, 10:00am – 3:00pm. Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country for a fun day out meeting new people, helping the environment and learning new skills. We will be working to enhance the woodland plantations on site by clearing brambles, crown lifting the trees and under planting with native tree whips and woodland ground flora. Meet at the entrance to the site at the northern end of View Point; as there are very few parking spaces nearby we recommended that anyone coming by car should park out of View Point and walk to the meeting place. No need to book, just turn up!

Dawn Chorus Event, Portway Hill, Saturday 30th April 2016, 6:30am. Join local bird expert Nick Horton who will be leading a dawn chorus walk, looking out in particular for the Rowley Hills’ resident raptors – Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and Peregrine, as well as many other species of interest. Be sure to dress sensibly (early mornings can be cold!) and bring binoculars if you have them. Meet at the cairn on the Wildlife Trust site on Portway Hill. No need to book.

Awards for All Easter success!

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The Wildlife Trust put on two very successful AFA (Awards for All) Lottery-funded events for us over the Easter week. On Wednesday Natalie Bellfield had a very good turn out for her Mothers and Toddlers walk from Oakham Library up onto View Point Open Space, where the children participated in a treasure hunt and various activities that the Wildlife Trust had set up. Afterwards, we continued our walk along the highest point of the site, admiring excellent views across to Cannock and Barr Beacon and beyond on what was turning into a sunny and pleasantly warm, early-spring day. Back at the library the children did some colouring, and prior to leaving, were all given Easter eggs. This was an excellent day that brought together the library, Wildlife Trust, Friends of Rowley Hills and many local people.

View Point Open Space AFA event 30th March 2016 (image © Mike Poulton)

On Thursday the weather was even better for our AFA event in Bury Hill Park.The spring sunshine was a bonus and we even saw an occasional Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on the wing. Throughout the day a steady stream of people visited our stall and at mid-day some of the attendees joined Mike for a circular walk around Portway Hill Open Space, taking in the Wildlife Trust cairn and geological exposure, before heading towards Wolverhampton Road and back into Bury Hill Park.

Many of the children took advantage of their visit to the park by making use of the various play apparatus that the park has to offer.
During the afternoon representatives from the Wildlife Trust and FORH scattered Harebell seeds across the Portway Hill site which they had collected last autumn thanks to FORH’s successful appeal to Sandwell Council to temporally cease mowing of the hillside while the Harebells were flowering and producing seed.

Bury Hill Park AFA event 31st March 2016 (image © Mike Poulton)

Lynn Poulton scattering Harebell seeds on the Wildlife Trust site - 31st March 2016 (image © Mike Poulton)

Family fun this Easter on the Rowley Hills

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We have plenty of fun family activities planned for you on the Rowley Hills over Easter!

Next Wednesday 30th March we have two events; first up is a Easter Mums & Toddlers walk with Sandwell Leisure Trust. Natalie Bellfield from Sandwell Leisure Trust will be leading a walk specially for mums and toddlers going from Oakham Library to View Point, before heading back to the library and ending with some refreshments. Our Vice Chair Mike Poulton will be accompanying the group and giving a short talk about the wildlife and views from the hillside. The Friends of Rowley Hills are also going to put on a display of Rowley Hills photographs in the library for this event.

Then from 11:00am until 3:00pm on the same day we will be up on View Point Open Space with the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country running lots of fun, FREE, family activities including arts and crafts, walks and talks and a treasure hunt.

On Thursday 31st March we will be in Bury Hill Park, 11:00am – 3:00pm, with the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country running lots of fun, FREE, family activities including arts and crafts, walks and talks and a treasure hunt. All of these events are completely free for anyone who wants to come, thanks to our funding from the Big Lottery Fund. You don’t need to book, just turn up! Take a look at the posters below for further info and location maps:

Tool training this Saturday!

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This Saturday we have another exciting event happening, made possible thanks to our Awards For All funding from the Big Lottery Fund. Tom Hartland-Smith from The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country will be on Portway Hill carrying out tool training – this will teach you all you need to know about use and maintenance of the tools we use for conservation on the Rowley Hills. We will meet on St Brades Close at 10:00 and the event runs until 12:00. There is a limited number of places available; please book your place at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/portway-hill-tool-training-maintenance-tickets-22690278233.

We look foward to seeing you there!

Forthcoming Rowley Hills events

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We’ve been busy arranging lots of exciting events over the coming months, thanks to our Awards For All Lottery funding. Coming up tomorrow we have another conservation volunteer day with the Wildlife Trust where we will be planting a new hedgerow, and on the 19th March the Wildlife Trust will be holding a tool training event, which will teach you all you need to know about use and maintenance of the tools we use for conservation on the Rowley Hills.

Looking further ahead, we have a Mums and Toddlers walk at Easter in partnership with Sandwell Leisure Trust, our Clean for the Queen litter pick in April, and a couple of guided wildlife walks in June at a peak time for butterfly activities on the hills.

Check out our Events page for the full details of all these events, and don’t forget to keep checking back as we’ll continue to add more events in the near future! You can also sign up to updates from this news feed – just click on ‘Follow’ at the bottom right-hand corner of our homepage (https://friendsofrowleyhills.org/) and enter your email address. You’ll receive an email every time we post some news here!

Friends of Rowley Hills awarded £10,000 from the Big Lottery Fund!

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Fantastic news! We are very happy to be able to announce that we’ve been successful in securing a £10,000 Awards for All grant from the Big Lottery Fund. These grants fund a wide range of community projects aimed at developing skills, improving health, revitalising the local environment and enabling people to become more active citizens. Our application was overseen by the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country with whom we work closely; our thanks to them for their great assistance in helping us obtain this funding.

The Wildlife Trust will also be helping to deliver the majority of the activities paid for by the funding, over the next 12 months. Although yet to be finalised, the money is likely to be spent on activities such as guided walks and other events, training for our members so that we can deliver more future events, and supplies necessary for the upkeep of the Rowley Hills.