A Woodland Walk

Millennium Wood, situated on the outskirts of Marston Green Village, Solihull, covering over 10 acres, was planted with around 9000 trees and shrubs in 2000 to recreate habitats historically found in the area.

Trees and shrubs planted include Sessile Oak, Silver Birch, Rowan, Goat Willow, Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Elder, Holly, Guelder and Dog Rose. Gorse and broom occur naturally on the fine, sandy soil. The habitat is a mix of woodland, grassland and scrubby heathland.

I drive past this woodland area several times a week and when I was passing today I decided I would stop off and do a bit of "exploring".





Start of the Walk



It only took 10 or 15 minutes to walk round and today I only saw a few magpies and wood pigeons but I will certainly visit again as it seems to have a lot of potential for bird sightings. According to the information board, foxes are often seen and moles, mice and voles attract owls and kestrel. Blue, great and long tailed tits are likely to be seen together with blackbirds, sparrowhawk, great spotted and green woodpeckers and siskins are attracted to alder and birch seeds in the winter.

There were certainly plenty of ripe berries such as these on rowan









which might attract fieldfare and redwing in the autumn and winter.

I'm really glad I finally made the effort to visit and it will be interesting to see what bird species I spot in the future.