Middleton Lakes RSPB reserve

Middleton Lakes is an RSPB nature reserve of 160 hectares beside Middleton Hall in Warwickshire, just south of Tamworth. Part of the site lies in Staffordshire, yet it is only minutes from Birmingham. Until 2007 the land was a gravel quarry worked by Hanson Aggregates. Locally it was known as Fishers Mill, Drayton Bassett or Dosthill Lakes. The River Tame flows north through the reserve, while the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal runs parallel to it on the western edge. The reserve offers four walking trails from 500 metres to three kilometres long, with three viewing platforms and a viewing screen. A public bridleway and Langley Brook cross the western half, and a smaller meadow near the car park has a children’s play area. The RSPB plans to add a bird hide and later a visitor centre. Facilities at Middleton Hall include catering and toilets for visitors. Wildfowl such as pochard, tufted duck and smew overwinter here in nationally important numbers. Notable birds include lesser spotted woodpecker, bittern, barn owl and marsh harrier, with up to 100 grey herons in the heronry. Otters live on the site alongside more than a thousand species of animals, plants and fungi. The reserve’s meadows are grazed by English Longhorn cattle to encourage skylarks and wild flowers.