CHELMARSH

Take a bag of sandwiches, cakes and apples, a flask and plenty of time and you will surely see something interesting at Chelmarsh.

This reservoir, owned by South Staffordshire Water plc, is a favoured haunt of local birdwatchers, several of whom have been tending and improving it for more than 20 years. With help from the Trust a new scrape has been dug at the north end, making it a better feeding ground for waders, while two hides make it a cosy one for birdwatchers.

It is an excellent winter wildfowl site, attracting a large gull roost, small numbers of winter swans and geese and ducks including

regular to occasional sightings of pintail, goldeneye, goosander and smew. A reed warbler colony now thrives in the specially planted reed bed along with reed buntings and sedge warblers. Look out for water rail creeping along the edges of the reeds and rushes.

Ospreys call in here on their way to and from their breeding grounds and a special platform has been put up here, as at Wood Lane Nature Reserve, to encourage them to stay and nest.

Find out more about this reserve