Overview

The region embraced by the West Midland Bird Club is famed for its wealth of reservoirs, with more than 20 within Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the metropolitan county of West Midlands. The most productive are the larger waters, especially Draycote Water, near Rugby in Warwickshire (SP 460700), and the cluster of reservoirs in south Staffordshire: Belvide (SJ 863103), Blithfield (SK 058238) and Chasewater (SK 034076). The larger reservoirs support impressive populations of wintering wildfowl, while the gull roosts are among the largest anywhere inland in England. Such large assemblies inevitably attract species less commonly encountered inland, such as the occasional Long-tailed Duck or Velvet Scoter, and sometimes a real surprise, like the Franklin’s Gull which appeared at Draycote in November 2002.

Birds

Chance of Great Northern Diver or Slavonian Grebe, Pintail, Goldeneye, Goosander, occasional Smew, Common Scoter or other seaduck, Dunlin, Jack Snipe, gulls including regular Mediterranean and Yellow-legged and good chance of Glaucous or Iceland Gull from December, occasional Short-eared Owl, Long-eared Owl, Rock Pipit, Water Pipit, Black Redstart, Willow Tit, Snow Bunting.

Bird news

Call Birdline Midlands on 09068 700247. To report sightings call 01905 754154. See also the following websites: Draycote Birding (www.draycotebirding.co.uk); The Chasewater Wildlife Group (www.chasewater.org.uk).

Maps

OS Maps: Explorer 222 and Landranger 140 for Draycote; Explorer 6 and Landranger 127, 128 and 139 for the Staffordshire reservoirs (www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk).

Contacts

County recorders: (Warwickshire) Jonathan Bowley, 17 Meadow Way, Fenny Compton, Southam CV47 2WD (tel: 01295 770069; email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ); (Staffordshire) Gilly Jones, 4 The Poplars, Lichfield Road, Abbots Bromley, Rugeley WS15 3AA (email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Accommodation

There are a number of hotels and B&Bs in the general area, including

• Blithfield area: Lea Hall Farm B&B, Admaston, Rugeley WS15 3NN (tel: 01889 500662).
• Holiday cottages: Blithfield Lakeside Barns, St Stephen’s Hill Farm, Steenwood Lane, Admaston, Rugeley WS15 3NQ (tel: 01889 500548).
• Draycote area: The Village Green Hotel, The Green, Dunchurch, Rugby CV22 6NX (tel: 01788 813434, email; This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Food and drink

Meals are available at the visitor centre at Draycote, while there are cafés at Chasewater and ‘roadhouses’ nearby. There are five pubs in Abbots Bromley, as well as restaurants at the Huntsman Carvery and the Old Thatched Cottage.