Our group of fifteen had a fantastic time on last Saturday’s Lottery-funded Awards for All event walking over and under the Netherton Tunnel. Six of the seven remaining pepperpots on the Rowley Hills were visited and when we arrived at Bumble Hole Visitor Centre for tea and coffee, as proof of the achievement of walking through the tunnel, all of the participants received a certificate kindly provided by Bumble Hole Volunteers Group. Here are a few photos from the walk!
This Saturday we have another exciting Lottery-funded event for you – something we’ve been wanting to do for a while, a guided walk through the Netherton Tunnel and Bumble Hole Nature Reserve. It’s the perfect way to make a healthy start to your new year! The walk will start from Regent Road Co-op car park and will take in the Netherton Tunnel, its ventilation system (the pepper pots) and Bumble Hole nature reserve. The tunnel is very dark with wet footpaths so bring a torch and sturdy footwear. The walk should last just over three hours and covers about 5 miles; we will stop at the Bumble Hole visitor centre for a tea or coffee at the halfway point. This a family friendly event; dogs are allowed, however they must be on a lead at all times. This event is free but donations are always welcome. You will also receive a certificate at the end of the walk to prove that you’ve walked through the Netherton Tunnel! For more information, please visit the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country website.
We also have a couple of conservation volunteering days coming up too, on the 6th and 21st January. Check out our Events page for further information.
Netherton Tunnel entrance (image © Brian Clift via Creative Commons)
The Friends of Rowley Hills wish you a Happy New Year! 2016 was a good one for us; thanks to our funding from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All project we were able to deliver many exciting events for the benefit and enjoyment of the local community and carry out more vital conservation work on the Rowley Hills than ever before. We look forward in 2017 to continuing with our work to conserve and enhance the hills for the benefit of wildlife and the local community.
Here are a few photos from one of our recent Lottery-funded events – the Christmas crafts morning at Oakham Library which was well-attended and enjoyed by all!
Our hard-working volunteers were out on Portway Hill once again at the weekend. They had a great day in the unseasonably warm sunshine doing further work to expose the Rowley Rag rock face and improve the path. Here are a few photos of them at work!
A group of enthusiastic volunteers from the Black Country Geological Society were hard at work on Portway Hill last Saturday. They did a great job clearing vegetation that was obscuring the dolerite rock exposures, and improving the footpath using eroded material from the rockface – it doesn’t get more locally sourced than that! Here are a few photos of their efforts.
Our Lottery-funded Halloween event on Saturday was a great success! Surrounded by autumn colour, staff from the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country and volunteers from Friends of Rowley Hills helped kids to make some very spooky Halloween-themed crafts, including creepy clay models and scary skeletons! Below are a few photos from the event. Thanks to everyone who came!
We’ve just added plenty more Lottery-funded new events to our website, including volunteering days for the winter season – we will be continuing to work with the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country on improving Portway Hill’s access, habitats and key features.
The next event in the diary though is this Saturday when there will a free Halloween-themed family fun day at Bury Hill Park, with lots of activities including clay art, creepy crawlies and scary drawings! Come along any time between 11:00am and 3:00pm, and in the meantime check out our Events page to see what else we have planned for the coming months.
A huge amount of rubbish has recently been dumped on Turners Hill in what appears to have been a single incident. This article in the Express & Star gives the full details; the photos have to be seen to believe the scale of this disgusting incident. Clearing the rubbish is likely to take some time due to issues around ownership of the land and the sheer scale of the fly tipping.
If you know anything about this incident or saw anything, please report it to the police by dialling 101. Thank you.
We have been busy arranging lots more exciting Lottery-funded events for the coming months. See below, and keep checking our Events page as we’ll be adding further details!
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)
Friends of Rowley Hills 