Reserve: Blithfield

This is an important request for volunteers to pick up helping with the BTO WeBS activities at Blithfield Reservoir

We have had three excellent members doing the surveys between them for the the last 10 - 20 years

Peter Betts, Graham Mount and Roger Rooke

All three are standing down after the December count and it’s certainly with a great many thanks for the excellent work over the years that we will lose their support, whilst wishing them many happy hours visiting Blithfield in the future

We are looking for some new blood to do the counts and liaise with the BTO with the results; starting in the new year. A good level of competence / proficiency at bird identification and an interest in helping building our understanding of transient and resident species from the surveys

This a really important contribution at a major UK body of water

Following a partial site review by WMBG’s Martin Smith and SSW’s Estate Manager to flag any, I am pleased to report the a step has been added to the entrance to the Beech Tree Point hide. Please see picture below.

In addition the cattle grid by the Stansley Wood Court residents car park has been filled in

As visitors to Blithfield will likely know we were fortunate to install a new Tern raft this year with the bulk of the cost covered by the SSW Pebble fund. For some of the the years the rafts have been installed, the West Midlands Ringing Group have been ringing the chicks and have now produced an excellent report with a great amount of information and data, which shows the important contribution Blithfield is playing in the conservation of the local Tern population. Please see attached the full report and I would like to say many thanks to the WMRG for making it available to us