One of our main projects in 2023 was to expose a long lost section of old drystone walling on the Portway Hill site, some of it which hadn’t seen the light of day for probably more than 150 years! This stretch of drystone walling was one of the old field boundaries before the days of quarrying and mining, and since exposing it we have received some really positive comments from local people who regularly walk the site.
We’ve also established a good relationship with Dudley Golf Club and were taken on a tour of the course by Grounds Manager Stewart Marshall. He lives locally and is very interested in the wildlife found on the course and is currently constructing and erecting bird and bat boxes on trees in various places. One of his ambitions is to open up at least one of the choked-up ponds on the site.
For the City Nature Challenge 2023 we held recording sessions on both the golf course, and on the Portway Hill site, and came up with a very long list of species, which included a few surprises.
Gorse Shieldbug Piezodurus lituratus Portway Hill by Mark Webster 28.04.2023Gorse Shieldbug Piezodurus lituratus Portway Hill by Mark Webster 28.04.2023Green Winged Orchid Anacamptis morio Portway Hill 09.05.2023
A group photograph of the officials from UNESCO and others during the revalidation visit to the Portway Hill site on 20th July.
UNESCO revalidation visit to Portway Hill 20.07.2023
The Tracmaster and flail in use, and the result. Without this machine, donated to us by the Trust, most of the tracks across the hillside would have been lost to vegetation during the exceptionally wet summer.
Dave and Bob flailing PROW with Tracmaster 27.06.2023
Mark Webster’s fantastic discovery of Otiorhynchus ligustici weevil on the Portway Hill site. This was the 1st UK sighting since 1993 and only the 12th UK records since 1835. All important visits and outstanding discoveries like this need to be documented to help protect the site.
More news, updates and future activities from the Friends will be coming soon…
Volunteer days with the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and Black Country start again this month. If you would like to to take part, meet new people, make new friends, get fit and help us to maintain this fabulous wildlife site on your doorstep, feel free to come along. We meet just inside St Brades Close, off Tower Road at 10:00am. All our days for 2024 are listed below.
Tools and tea and coffee are provided by the Wildlife Trust, we have spare gloves but you may wish to bring your own. Please bring your own lunch.
Conservation volunteer day, Portway hill, Friday 26th April 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway hill, Saturday 11th & Friday 24th May 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm
Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway hill, Saturday 8th & Friday 28th June 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm
Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway hill, Saturday 13th & Friday 26th July 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm
Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway hill, Saturday 10th & Friday 23rd August 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm
Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway hill, Saturday 14th & Friday 27th September 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm
Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway hill, Saturday 12th & Friday 25th October 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm
Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway hill, Saturday 9th & Friday 22nd November 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm
Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway hill, Saturday 14th December 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm
Join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
It’s been a wet and rainy autumn and you may have noticed that this has been fantastic for fungi! Here’s a gallery of recent fungi sightings from Portway Hill, with a couple of photos from the more recent cold snap too.
Here’s a bumper crop of interesting sightings from the Rowley Hills over the summer and autumn this year!
Andrew Cook photographed this Hummingbird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) on 20 June while he was doing a butterfly survey.
This Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) was discovered on Portway Hill by Andrew Cook on 24 June. It’s the first record of this orchid at this site, and only the 10th record in the whole of Birmingham and the Black Country. A fantastic record! Photograph by Mike Poulton.
On the same day, this Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) was also photographed by Andrew Cook. One or two Bee Orchids usually appear somewhere on Portway Hill every year, but they are unpredictable!
A Buff-tip moth (Phalera bucephala) caterpillar photographed on 12 August by Mike Poulton.
On 2 September, 8 hibernating Herald Moths (Scoliopteryx libatrix) were found and photographed by Mike Poulton in an outbuilding in the Portway Hill area. This is another new record for the site.
On 10 September a local dog walker reported to the Wildlife Trust volunteers working on the hillside that he’d just seen a huge Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) caterpillar walking across the path in front of him. We didn’t manage to find and photograph it, but here is a photo taken by Mike Poulton of the moth that the caterpillar would metamorphose into!
This Parasol Mushroom (Macrolepiota procera) was photographed on Portway Hill by Mike Poulton on 13 September.
We will be holding our AGM this Sunday, 30th October 2022, at 10:30am (don’t forget the clocks go back!). Anyone interested in the work of the Friends of Rowley Hills is welcome.
This Saturday (1st October), Top Church in Dudley are celebrating becoming an EcoChurch by hosting an Eco Fair to mark Great Big Green Week and the Season of Creation. The Friends of Rowley Hills will have a stall at the fair where we’ll be giving out copies of our new trail guide and chatting about the wonderful Rowley Hills to anyone who is interested!
The Eco Fair will also feature:
Eco-friendly, gifts and crafts – made from recycled, repurposed, or sustainable materials – including from Top Church!
Yummy vegan, locally made goodies.
Guerrilla gardening in the church yard.
Activities for children – crafts and face painting.
A film screening.
Information from local organisations promoting wildlife and sustainable living.
A new walking trail leaflet has recently been published, detailing some of the fascinating and intertwined geology and history of the Rowley Hills area. Copies of the leaflet are available from local libraries, Bumble Hole Visitors Centre, Lion Farm Action Centre, Dudley Museum and Archives and more. You can also download and print a copy at home – be aware the whole leaflet is A3 sized. The leaflet is a joint venture between the Black Country Geological Society, Friends of Rowley Hills, Sandwell Council and the Black Country Global Geopark, and has been made possible thanks to funding from Grace Mary to Lion Farm Big Local.
We’ve also recently been shown these beautiful paintings by a local artist, Tracey F, of the newly opened up section of Church Walk and a Rowley Church winter scene. We hope to see some more of Tracey’s work soon, it’s wonderful to see our local area depicted with such a good eye!
As has been widely reported during the recent heatwaves, there has been a big increase in wildfires around the country, and unfortunately this has included the Rowley Hills. Last month, a large area of felled trees on Portway Hill at the end of St Brades Close caught fire. These trees had been left by contractors who felled them in 2021, and despite the risk (not to mention the right of way that had become blocked by the trees) had not returned to remove them. The contractors were acting on behalf of the owner of that parcel of land.
Fortunately the fire was brought quickly under control by the fire service before it could spread to the nearby houses. Had the fire spread to the fences along the back of the houses where the trees had been cut down and just left in situ, and got a hold, the consequences could have been much worse. Following the fire, contractors are chipping the felled trees so the area will be much safer in the future. The Friends of Rowley Hills will be able to use the chippings to spread along the paths later this year.
Although we’ve since had some wet weather, further warm, dry conditions are forecast over the next week so if you’re out and about in the Rowley Hills and see anything that looks like a fire risk, you can report it. It goes without saying, please don’t use barbecues in the hills or discard lit cigarette butts. Thankyou!
Here are a few photos of some recent sightings on the Rowley Hills – a superb male Sparrowhawk photographed by Andrew Cook on his garden fence, a Ring Ouzel on a migratory stop-off en route to his breeding grounds also photographed by Andrew (from his house!!); and a Tawny Mining Bee and newly emerged male Orange Tip butterfly, both photographed by Mike Poulton.
Volunteer days with the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country start again in April. If you would like to take part, meet new people, make new friends, get fit, and help to maintain this fantastic wildlife site here on your doorstep, feel free to come along. We meet just inside St Brades Close, off Tower Road at 10:00am. All volunteer days for 2022 are listed below and on our Events page.
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Friday 22nd April 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Saturday 14th May 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Friday 27th May 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Friday 24th June 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Saturday 9th July 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Friday 22nd July 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Friday 26th August 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Saturday 10th September 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Friday 23rd September 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Friday 28th October 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Saturday 12th November 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Friday 25th November 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Conservation volunteer day, Portway Hill, Friday 23rd December 2022, 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; ensure you are dressed appropriately for the forecast weather conditions, and wear sturdy footwear. No need to book, just turn up!
Friends of Rowley Hills 