I have been volunteering at the RSPB Sandwell Valley Reserve for over a year now, and my only regret is that I didn’t start volunteering sooner, having lived in the local area for a fair number of years. I mainly do the Friday work parties, but occasionally get involved with other events. It’s great to not only spend more time outside helping with habitat improvement, but also have the opportunity to enhance other peoples…

The Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, offers the RSPB another pathway to connecting people with nature, and to develop a unique wellness approach that could potentially help those suffering from stress.

In recent years thanks to on-going campaigns to dispel taboos around publically discussing depression and stress, the UK is now taking a more progressive attitude towards easing stress and anxiety…

After a month or so of snow and frost icing over the car park and freezing part of our lake, we’re back into full swing here at RSPB Sandwell and looking forward to what the New Year will bring. The plants and weeds by the visitor centre windows have been strimmed back to encourage regrowth, and we now have a gloriously unhampered view of the reserve all the way down to the lake and the walkway beyond.

We’ve been…

“Underground there is another world” said Suzanne Simard, one of the leading researchers on the wood wide web. It is a world that is very difficult to picture. It might be hard to believe but a pinch of soil can contain miles of tiny thread like fungi – so imagine what a whole woodland contains.

For our wood wide web interpretation we have tried to represent the linkages between the trees, just to give…

The way that I look at trees changed a while ago when I first came across the idea of the “wood wide web”. Rather than being slow growing solitary things, existing in their own space, it turns out that trees are connected and a wood is not a collection of individual trees but a community.

Research has found that trees share food and information through an amazing underground network made up of tree roots…

It is quite a regular thing for me to see something that makes me marvel at how amazing nature is. Every now and again though something really does make me catch my breath. It was one of those moments a couple of weeks ago.

Now I think galls are pretty amazing – those strange lumps, bumps and balls that you see on trees. The idea that an insect can lay its egg in a plant and then change the chemistry of the plant to…

The cycles of the natural world are bringing us back to autumn and those cycles see some birds leaving us until next Spring and others arriving for the winter. We have some new boards up around the reserve celebrating this great movement of feathered life.

What do you think of when you think of autumn migration?

I tend to think mostly about things leaving – the ‘goings’ – like the swallows and swifts off on their…

My name is Eleanor but most people know me as Ellie.

I have always enjoyed being outdoors since I was a young child and believe that all children should have the opportunity to be involved and learn about local wildlife and nature. I am currently training to become a primary school teacher at University of Worcester and I have been a volunteer at RSPB Sandwell Valley for a year. I joined RSPB Sandwell to spend more…

We've had some absolutely fantastic finds during the last month at RSPB Sandwell. Although the weather's been touch and go, summer one day and autumn the next, nature has bloomed all around us and many species have made a home at the reserve. This week we were greeted by some absolutely beautiful dragonflies! This one here is a female southern hawker who's recently hatched and should be with us up until mid-September…

How would you define a weed?

That is one of the questions that we are asking visitors looking around our wildlife garden. The simplest definition is “a plant in the wrong place” but who’s to say where’s the wrong place? I like the idea that a weed is a plant that obstructs our plans – we have an idea of how we want something to be and a weed gets in the way of that. One thing that is certain is that weeds thrive in the…

It looks like summer has finally arrived at RSPB Sandwell Valley. The last two days have been gloriously sunny with bright blue skies and a warm breeze, and the wildlife, volunteers and visitors alike have all been enjoying the change in weather. As we say goodbye to spring, we’ve been delighted to find all sorts of fluffy and furry newcomers across the reserve.

This week we welcomed two little oystercatcher chicks…

When someone says the word ‘garden’ you might think of flowers or grass or trees – but how often do you think of herbs? Now that the weather is brightening up we’ve got more projects on the horizon, and our work parties are out and about across the reserve doing all sorts of things.

It's an absolutely gloriously sunny day today. Earlier this week we had a local youth group come along to help create…

Well, spring is now in full bloom and the reserve is beginning to look marvellously colourful once again. Despite the odd snow showers (the British weather never seems to be able to make its mind up about what season it is nowadays!) RSPB Sandwell has been bustling with visitors, both regular and new. It’s always wonderful to meet new faces and show people what they can do on the reserve and around the valley.

Today feels very much like summer. A perfect day for being out on the reserve enjoying the wildlife, mallards and goosander drifting sleepily across the brilliant blue water of the lake, while blue tits and bullfinches bask happily in the warm afternoon sunshine. And as we prepare for two weeks of eggshellent Easter fun over half term the weather couldn’t possibly be better.

But of course it isn’t just the weather…

We’re now into our spring season here at Sandwell Valley. The sun is shining and the sky is dotted with ladybird-book style marshmallow clouds. Flowers are coming into bloom, and the trees are beginning to bud as we prepare to bring back our exciting seasonal activities.

Yesterday we had some wonderful groups of school children come to the visitor centre all ready and rearing to go and get close to nature. With…

As you would expect, nature reserves have a significant impact on local wildlife. Providing refuge from habitat loss, reserves are managed to create homes for all kinds of nature. What is often overlooked is the fact that nature reserves also have an impact on local human communities.

When people spend time outdoors, it can have a profound positive health benefits. Accessible green space has the potential to increase…

The sun might not be shining quite as brightly as yesterday, but that hasn’t deterred our work parties from continuing their projects. 

Whatever the weather you can always be sure to spot a volunteer out on the reserve clad in wellington boots and a cheerful smile. The cherry blossom and crocuses are now out in full bloom, heralding the coming of spring – and hopefully some sunny weather amidst the inevitable…

It seems this March is off to a wet and windy start, yet despite the cold weather the birds are still out and enjoying the pre-spring rain showers. Several birds have been spotted this morning, both on the feeders and down on the lake.

Willow tits, great tits, blue tits and even the long-tailed tits have visited, to-ing and fro-ing from the shelter of the Hawthorn trees which are now beginning to flower. They were joined…

The work party have been hard at work on the lake this week. They had a bit of a grey and cloudy start today but the weather seems to have brightened up this afternoon.

There are around fifteen small islands on the reserve which are mostly viewable from the Visitor Centre, but you can see them close up from the Hide which makes for good bird-spotting. The islands used to make up one large island, however extra channels…

We’re getting closer to the Wildlife Photography course at RSPB Sandwell Valley. We’re very excited to have course leader Nick Martin here to show nature and camera lovers how to take a great image.

The course is six weeks, each week will fit together to refresh the knowledge from previous sessions, focus on a new area of learning and set up some tasks to practice for the next week. It is best to complete…

We’re all getting busy here at Sandwell RSPB ready for the Big Garden Bird Watch this weekend. It was a hazy start this morning and my job was to count how many garden birds I could see across the reserve – which, being short-sighted, did not turn out to be quite as easy as I had thought. Our bird-feeders are always full of activity with many birds visiting throughout the day, so counting them all would seem almost impossible…

Going for a wander in the great outdoors this time of year can yield some exciting sightings of wildlife, even if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking at. Autumn is a fantastic time of year to spot an abundance of feathered creatures, spy mammals preparing for hibernation or just bask in the glorious fiery palette of changing plant life.

But what about looking through the seasonal hustle and bustle…

It’s that time again, where thoughts turn to Christmas - woohoo good food, drink and celebrations. Then, thoughts turn to that friend or relative who has everything – what to get them? We’ve got a good solution at RSPB Sandwell Valley.  A fantastic six week course ‘Getting up to Speed with Wildlife Photography’, even better why not give it as a Christmas present to yourself, you know you’ll enjoy it!…