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)
At this time of year, if you’re lucky, you might encounter tigers in your garden…..no not that kind of tiger! We’re talking about Scarlet Tiger (Callimorpha dominula) moths, one of our most spectacular moths. These colourful creatures are day-flying, their caterpillars feed on a range of herbaceous plants, and they are on the increase. The photo below was taken in a garden local to the Rowley Hills; the bright scarlet underwings are hidden beneath the forewings but sometimes you might find a Scarlet Tiger with its wings fully spread as shown in this photo. There is also a Scarlet Tiger Project in Stourbridge, formed by local residents who have successfully protected and enhanced habitat for Scarlet Tigers in their local area.
Do let us know if you’ve seen any Scarlet Tiger moths!
Scarlet Tiger moth (Callimorpha dominula) (image © Julia Morris)
On the morning of Thursday 23 June, three representatives of FORH, Julie, Bob and Mike, along with Chris Parry, Principal Ecologist for the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country, joined Graham Worton, Keeper of Geology at Dudley Museum and Art Gallery and the two scrutineers Jari Nenonen from Finland and Jin Xiaochi from China on their UNESCO Global Geopark Evaluation Mission visit to the Rowley Hills.
To give our guests a panoramic view of the surrounding Black Country, the high point at the top of Darbys Hill Road was the first port of call. From here Graham put names to the distant hills and pointed out some of the nearby sites that had been visited during the previous two days.
From here the short journey was made to the Wildlife Trust land on Portway Hill where our visitors were able to get up really close to the outstanding geological features and we were given the opportunity to talk to them about the role the Wildlife Trust and Friends of Rowley Hills played in conserving and managing this site for its wildlife and geology.
Several other Sandwell sites were to be visited as part of the evaluation mission during the remaining part of the day, so with a tight itinerary in prospect, our visitors parted company, hopefully with a lasting impression to take back home, and one that will lead to a positive outcome when the decision as to whether the Black Country becomes a UNESCO Global Geopark site is made early next year.
UNESCO Scrutineers Jari Nenonen from Finland and Jin Xiaochi from China visit Portway Hill (image © Mike Poulton)
UNESCO Scrutineers Jari Nenonen from Finland and Jin Xiaochi from China visit Portway Hill (image © Mike Poulton)
Just a quick reminder that we have an exciting event on this Thursday (23rd June), 11:00am – 1:00pm; in partnership with Butterfly Conservation, our Vice Chair Mike Poulton will be leading a guided butterfly walk around Portway Hill, following a route Mike wrote for the the recently published ‘Butterflies of the West Midlands‘ book. Copies of this excellent book will also be available to buy at the event. 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).
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.
Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 4th June at 2:00pm at Oakham Library. All members are welcome to attend! The AGM takes place straight after the Sandnats walk on the Rowley Hills at 10:30am on the same day so we hope some of you will be able to make it to both. Full details of this walk can be found on our Events page.
The AGM agenda will be as follows:
The full venue details are Oakham Library, Poplar Rise, Tividale, Oldbury, West Midlands, B69 1RD; telephone 01384 255 563.
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!
Rowley Hills map showing paths and access points
On Saturday we held our first dawn chorus walk on the Rowley Hills, led by local expert Nick Horton. Ten attendees met at 6:30am at the cairn on Portway Hill in perfect weather conditions – sunny, mild and still. We headed across Portway Hill, past the farm and over to Turners Hill before checking out the golf course, then heading back the way we came. In total we saw or heard 33 species.
Portway Hill (image © Jane Tavener)
Willow Warbler (image © Andrew Cook)
At this time of year, many migratory birds have recently arrived from Africa to breed in the UK and we saw good numbers of these. The bird we probably saw (and heard!) the most on our walk was Chiffchaff, a small warbler which generally spends the winter in north Africa and parts of the Mediterranean, although in some parts of Europe they can be seen all year round. A close relative of the Chiffchaff, the Willow Warbler, was also spotted several times on the walk; this species likes young woodland and we saw a few in the area between Bury Hill Park and the Wildlife Trust cairn on Portway Hill.
The masts on Turners Hill (image © Jane Tavener)
Two other closely-related warblers that we saw were Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat; Whitethroats in particular are very common on the Rowley Hills as they breed in low scrub and brambles, a common habitat here. Although we were hoping to see a few birds of prey, these were surprisingly difficult to find – up to four species can regularly be seen on the Rowley Hills (Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine and Buzzard) but on this occasion we only saw Buzzard, and a brief glimpse of a Peregrine.
Turners Hill, as the highest point in the West Midlands, is a stop-off point for many bird species on migration, which take a brief break to rest and refuel before heading off again to their breeding grounds. Early in the morning before the golfers arrive some of these birds can also be seen on the golf course, and one of our best sightings of the walk was here – a Wheatear quietly resting next to a ditch. This is an attractive bird of mountains and moorland, related to robins and thrushes; probably the closest breeding site to the Rowley Hills would be the Clee Hills in Shropshire.
We also had lovely views of both Mistle Thrush and Song Thrush, and we all finished the walk feeling much more confident that we could now tell these two similar-looking species apart!
Mistle Thrush (image © Andrew Cook)
Song Thrush (image © Andrew Cook)
We hope to repeat this walk in October, to catch migrating birds heading south for the winter – but it will be a daytime rather than early morning event. Keep an eye on our Events page to find out when this will be happening!
Here’s the full list of birds we saw or heard:
| Blackbird | Linnet |
| Blue Tit | Long-tailed Tit |
| Bullfinch | Magpie |
| Buzzard | Mallard |
| Carrion Crow | Mistle Thrush |
| Chaffinch | Peregrine |
| Chiffchaff | Robin |
| Collared Dove | Song Thrush |
| Dunnock | Starling |
| Feral Pigeon | Stock Dove |
| Goldfinch | Swallow |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker | Wheatear |
| Great Tit | Whitethroat |
| Greenfinch | Willow Warbler |
| House Sparrow | Woodpigeon |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | Wren |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
Friends of Rowley Hills 