Over the past few years we have provided bird feed for our feeders which are viewed off the Heron Corner boardwalk and these have proved to be very popular with visitors old and young alike. Many of you will appreciate how expensive bird food is these days and the cost of maintaining such a busy feeding station was proving to be a bit of a headache. Step forward two knights in shining armour..... I was contacted recently by David Salter who is a local Councillor with a passion for wildlife and the environment and has supported the RSPB for many years. Through his connections he put us in touch with Matt the Manager at Pets Corner which is based at the Wyevale Garden Centre, Shenstone. It turns out that any bird food which is coming to the end of its shelf life has to be removed from the store, so we offered our services to help dispose of it. These generous donations are a God send to us as there is a wide variety of bird food on offer - finch food, tit food, garden mixes, you name it and Pets Corner sells it along with suet balls, coconut shells full of mealworm and more. Living locally, I knew of the store because I've visited when looking for food and toys for my dog and I found the staff to be very informative and helpful - and helpful they have been to Middleton Lakes and Sandwell Valley. Well done David & Matt and thank you.

See you on the reserves,

Best regards,

Chris Edwards

  • Over the past week we have been trialling the garden mixes in the bird feeders outside the Middleton Lakes office (we usually feed sunflower seeds). The birds are loving it so much that we are refilling the feeders two, sometimes three, times a day - success!  

    Visitors include nuthatch, great tit, greenfinch, chaffinch, robin and even the cheeky squirrel.

    So another thumbs up to David and Matt!