Tag Archives: volunteering

Upcoming events

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!

Litter pick, Thursday 25th August, midday – 3:00pm. Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country at Portway Hill for a fun day out meeting new people, helping the environment and learning new skills. Meet on St Brades Close, opposite to the entrance to Bury Hill Park. No need to book, just turn up!

Hedgerow management day, Wednesday 31st August, 10:00am – 3:00pm. Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country at Portway Hill for a fun day out meeting new people, helping the environment and learning new skills. Meet on St Brades Close, opposite to the entrance to Bury Hill Park; be sure to wear sturdy footwear and suitable work clothes. No need to book, just turn up!

Fun Day, Blackheath Library, Wednesday 31st August, 11:00am – 3:00pm. Free family fun for all including storytelling, crafts, games, raffles, stalls and a bread and butter pudding competition. The Friends of Rowley Hills hope to have a stall at this event. Click here for further information.

Bramble management day, Friday 2nd September, 10:00am – 3:00pm. Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country at Portway Hill for a fun day out meeting new people, helping the environment and learning new skills. Meet on St Brades Close, opposite to the entrance to Bury Hill Park; be sure to wear sturdy footwear and suitable work clothes. No need to book, just turn up!

Bird walk, Monday 5th September, 10:00am – 1:00pm. At a peak time for bird migration, we will be looking for some of the various species that pass through the Rowley Hills on their journey south. A great way to enjoy a healthy walk and appreciate nature at the same time! Meet at St Brades Close; no need to book.

Portway to Warrens Hall walk, Saturday 1st October, leaving at 10:00 from St Brades Close. Further information to follow.

Family fun day, Saturday 29th October, 11:00am – 3:00pm. Further information to follow.

Black Country Geological Society volunteer day, Portway Hill, Saturday 3rd December 2016, time TBC. The BCGS will be clearing vegetation from the rock face at the Wildlife Trust’s Portway Hill reserve. All welcome, no need to book. Click here for more information about the Black Country Geological Society.

Black Country Geological Society volunteer day, Portway Hill, Saturday 4th March 2017, time TBC. The BCGS will be clearing vegetation from the rock face at the Wildlife Trust’s Portway Hill reserve. All welcome, no need to book. Click here for more information about the Black Country Geological Society.

Geoconservation on Portway Hill

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It’s exciting times here on the Rowley Hills at the moment. On Saturday the Black Country Geological Society held their Geoconservation Day on Portway Hill and were joined by representatives from the Wildlife Trust and Friends of Rowley Hills. The part of the old Blue Rock Quarry site now owned by the Wildlife Trust has superb examples of vertical columnar jointing and spheroidal weathering and the day was spent clearing Brambles and other vegetation from the basalt exposures and consolidating the Public Right of Way that runs through the site.

Later this summer as part of the process for the Black Country’s bid to become a UNESCO Global Geopark, assessors from China and Finland will be conducting an evaluation mission and visiting Portway Hill Quarry along with other Black Country geological sites such as Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve and Saltwell’s Nature Reserve.

A further Geoconservation day is to be arranged on the Portway Hill site prior to their visit. We’ll keep you posted when this is to take place.

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

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.

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!

Wildlife round-up – October 2015

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Although summer is over and autumn is now well and truly with us, there are still plenty of fascinating flora and fauna to be seen in the Rowley Hills. Here’s a round-up of recent sightings; don’t forget, if you’ve seen something interesting, let us know!

Bird migration is continuing apace, and taking on an autumnal flavour, with the first Redwings of the season being spotted. This member of the thrush family breeds in northern Europe and migrates south in autumn, escaping the cold weather to spend the winter in the UK and other central and southern European countries. Other migrating species seen recently include Meadow and Tree Pipits, White and Yellow Wagtails, House Martin, Chaffinch, Siskin, Redpoll, Swallow, Spotted Flycatcher, Chiffchaff, Golden Plover and Cormorant. Many thanks as always to Ian Whitehouse for keeping us up to date with his Rowley Hills sightings!

Spotted Flycatcher (image © Ian Whitehouse)

Early morning on the Rowley Hills, a great time for vismigging (observing visible migration of birds) (image © Ian Whitehouse).

We’ve had more good news following Sandwell Council’s decision to delay cutting the grass on Bury Hill in response to our request. Not only has this allowed the Harebells there to finish flowering – enabling us to collect seed from them to sow elsewhere in the Rowley Hills – another scarce wildflower in Birmingham and the Black Country has been discovered in the same area which would probably never have come to light had the grass been cut as normal. The flower is Trailing Tormentil (Potentilla anglica); it is very difficult to identify as it hybridises with two other members of the Tormentil family, Creeping Cinquefoil (P. reptans) and Common Tormentil (P. erecta). The two hybrids and Trailing Tormentil all look very similar, having flowers with both 4 and 5 petals; however 2 experts have verified that it is Trailing Tormentil. The diagnostic feature confirming this is fully fertile flowers – hybrids are not fertile.

Trailing Tormentil (Potentilla anglica) (image © Mike Poulton)

Elsewhere on the hills Mike Poulton photographed a Broom Moth caterpillar feeding on Red Bartsia, and another new botanical record for the Wildlife Trust’s Portway Hill site was a large patch of Sneezewort, so named because its pungent smell supposedly causes sneezing.

Broom Moth caterpillar (Ceramica pisi) (image © Mike Poulton)

Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica) (image © Mike Poulton)

Mike and Doug also found an enormous spider whilst working on the Wildlife Trust’s site, which turned out to be a Four Spotted Orb Weaver. This spider holds the record for the heaviest spider in Britain!

Four Spotted Orb Weaver (Araneus quadratus) (image © Mike Poulton)

It’s turning out to be a great fungi season too. These two species were photographed last week; Blackening Waxcap was near the Wildlife Trust’s Portway Hill site and Verdigris Agaric was on Massey’s Bank.

Blackening Waxcap (Hygrocybe nigrescens) (image © Mike Poulton)

Verdigris Agaric (Stropharia aeruginosa) (image © Mike Poulton)

Next conservation volunteer day – 29th January

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26th January 2015

The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country’s next conservation volunteer day on their Portway Hill reserve will be at 10:30 on Thursday 29th January 2015. We will be cutting vegetation to help manage the important grassland flora. The group will meet at the end of St. Brade’s Close off Tower Road which is off The A4123 Wolverhampton Road. See the Wildlife Trust’s website for further information.