WMBC Solihull & Warks Branch visit to Brandon Marsh

After a short summer break, we began our Autumn / Winter programme of walks with a trip to Brandon Marsh, on the outskirts of Coventry. The site is part of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and is an ideal site for an organised walk; good paths, excellent hides…and a café serving coffee and cake!

It was lovely to see some returning faces from our previous walks, as well as lots of new faces. We were joined on the walk by 14 guests, so it made more sense to split into 2 groups. Fortunately, Brandon Marsh is ideal for running several groups, as there are lots of different trails to follow, so each group could take a different route, whilst still getting to visit all of the hides.

We set off at 10am on a reasonably warm morning, after a night of steady rain. The forecast was for it to stay dry for our walk, but it was one of those typical autumn mornings where you are never quite sure how many layers you need and whether you’d need a coat or not! As it was, we managed to avoid the rain, and it turned into a lovely autumn day.

Some of the hides were quite busy, due to a number of Kingfishers providing some excellent photo opportunities by perching and fishing within a couple of metres of the hides. We really hoped we would get to see these gorgeous birds up close, and both groups were treated to close-up views from two of the hides, as well as numerous fly-pasts!

Whilst the Kingfishers were undoubtedly the highlight of the walk, we were also treated to great views of Snipe, Egrets, Lapwing and various raptors including Buzzards, a Sparrowhawk and a Hobby. We were also notified of a White-Fronted Goose on site and, after much scanning of the flocks of Canada and Greylag Geese, one of our walkers managed to spot it, much to everyone’s delight. One of our groups were lucky enough to see a Grass Snake swimming across one of the pools! In total we saw 45 species of birds between the 2 walks.

Thanks to everyone who joined us on the day, it was wonderful to meet you all and we hope you enjoyed the walk as much as we did. Hopefully some of you will be able to join us at our upcoming walks.

We also hope to be able to share some exciting news soon, about a series of evening talks / slideshows we are planning for January, February and March 2027 – watch this space…

Our next 2 walks are as follows, we hope you can join us:

Wednesday 21^st October at Elmdon Park & Nature Reserve.

Saturday 21^st November at Marsh Lane Nature Reserve.