Going Local!

On Saturday we stayed local, but took a 10 minute drive, if that, and parked at Netherton Reservoir with a view to explore Netherton Hill, which is part of the Saltwells Nature Reserve. Guiltily we have to say that despite living so close, in 30 odd years we have never been!

From the car park at the back of the Water Sports Club, we walked along the canal to the bridge to cross over to the reserve. Along the way we saw Coot and Moorhen on nests;

as well as a Jay showing us his backside, Lesser Black-backed Gulls and plenty of Mallard, including this farmyard duck;

Once over the bridge we heard then saw quite a few Greenfinch, non offered a decent photo though;

We turned left and followed the path parallel to the canal, where we saw that it looks like the management of this part of the reserve is achieved by a few of these fellas;

A bit further down the path we found a good spot to sit and have a coffee and watch the Linnet cavorting on a small copse nearby;

After coffee we walked on, with a Grey Heron giving us a fly by;

From a Flora point of view it was nice to see a few Orchids;

I believe this is a Common Spotted Orchid, but I'm happy to be corrected. Can't always trust the Internet! 😉 Typically after sitting on a little grass bank for coffee, we found a nice bench just a couple of hundred yards further on, hey ho, we'll know for next time.

We then headed up the hill towards the School, Cricket Ground & Church, now seeing plenty of Swifts hawking over the hillside. Once at the top we found a bench but it was occupied, so we found a tucked away corner and got the tint stools out that we sometimes take with us when going into uncharted territory and finished our coffee off, while watching the swifts.

As we went down the hill back to the canal, we hadn't gone far when guess what we found? Another bench, you live and learn. Along and around the canal are various bits of interesting information, so I'll just share a couple with you and digress from the wildlife a bit.

St Andrews Church, Netherton at the top of the Hill

and Brewins Tunnel.

On the walk back to the car, probably the same Jay mentioned earlier as it was in exactly the same place, was a bit more cooperative;

So a lovely couple of hours, we'll definitely be back. Since then we have been to Attingham NT, we managed to book a slot, but I'll cover that in the next post.