Sandwell Valley

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Address
RSPB Sandwell Valley, Tanhouse Ave, Birmingham B43 5AG, UK
Grid ref
SP035928
What3Words
stale.slowly.blame


Just a stone's throw from England's second city, get close to nature at Sandwell Valley. Enjoy a relaxing stroll away from the hustle and bustle of Birmingham, it's the perfect place for families to have fun together outdoors. 

Plan your visit

Opening times

  • Nature reserve: open at all times.
  • Car park: open, Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm. Closed outside of these hours.
  • Visitor Centre: open, Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-4.30pm.
  • Refreshments: open, Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-4.30pm.
  • Toilets: open, Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-4.30pm.
  • Hide: open, Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-4.30pm. Closed and locked outside of these hours.

Festive opening times

  • Christmas Eve: nature reserve open at all times. Visitor centre, car park and toilets closed.
  • Christmas Day: nature reserve open at all times. Visitor centre, car park and toilets closed.
  • Boxing Day: nature reserve open at all times. Visitor centre, car park and toilets open, 11am-3pm.
  • New Year’s Eve: nature reserve open at all times. Visitor centre, car park and toilets open, 10am-3pm.
  • New Year’s Day: nature reserve open at all times. Visitor centre, car park and toilets open, 11am-3pm.

Entrance charges

Free entrance to RSPB members
Yes
Adults
Free, but donations are very welcome.
Children
Free, but donations are very welcome.
Car park cost

There are no entry fees to the nature reserve, but the following parking charges apply:

  • RSPB members: FREE
    (please display your membership card face down in your windscreen)
  • Non-members: £3 per vehicle
  • Blue badge holders: FREE
    (please display your badge in your windscreen)

Facilities

  • Visitor centre
  • Car park
  • Toilets
  • Accessible toilets
  • Baby changing
  • Pushchair friendly
  • Refreshments
  • Picnic area
  • Binocular hire
  • Guided walks
  • Viewing point
  • Nature trails
  • Educational facilities
  • Play area

Accessibility

How to get here

By train

Hamstead is the nearest railway station. Turn right onto the main road - the Hamstead Hill/Old Walsall Road. Turn left into Hamstead Road then take the fourth left into Tanhouse Avenue just after Hamstead Primary School following the brown sign.

 

By bus

From Birmingham Priory Queensway: Take the number 16 bus to Hamstead, alight at Tanhouse Avenue. From West Bromwich Bus Station: Take the number 5 or 46 bus and alight at Bowstoke Road. Walk along Bowstoke Road to Tanhouse Avenue (20 minutes walk). From Sutton Coldfield Lower Parade: Take the number 5 bus and alight at Bowstoke Road. Walk along Bowstoke Road to Tanhouse Avenue (20 minutes walk).

By bike

National Route 5.

By road

The reserve is brown signposted off the A4041 (Newton Rd) North of Hampstead, take Hamstead Road (B4167), which is fifth on the left near the bottom of the hill by the church (look for the brown sign marked RSPB nature centre).

Sat nav POI file: If you have a satellite navigation system that can accept POI files, please see our POI page for a download link and instructions.

Get directions from Google Maps
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RSPB reserves on Google Earth

Information for dog owners

Dogs are welcome on the paths around the nature reserve.

Please keep your dog on a lead at all times, due to the sensitive wildlife and habitats here. We know that the countryside is a dog walking paradise. It’s important to remember the special surroundings here are wonderful havens for rare wildlife. Even if dogs are very well behaved, wildlife can easily become startled by a loose dog they perceive as a predator.

Disturbing wildlife does more than simply causing it to move away; it uses up their energy, decreasing their chance of survival regardless of season.

Thank you for protecting the special wildlife here by keeping your dog on a lead and under close, effective control.

  • Dog water bowls are available at the back of the visitor centre.
  • Dogs are permitted in the visitor centre on leads.
  • Dogs die in hot cars, please do not leave your dog in the car when visiting us.

Group booking information

Bringing a flock? We welcome group visits.

Please notify us of your visit in advance. Whether it is to reserve coach or minibus parking, arrange a tailored introductory talk, organise a bespoke guided walk for your group or hire a private room, we can ensure that your needs are attended to.

If you are a nature tour leader, we would love to work with you to make the most of your trip for your guests.

For all group visits, please contact us at sandwellvalley@rspb.org.uk so we can arrange your visit to your specific requirements

Schools booking information

For full details on our exciting programme of curriculum-linked outdoor education sessions, visit our school trips information.

  • Discover a knot of newts, a knab of toads or a cloud of grasshoppers. Give your class a unique learning experience and tick some of those important curriculum targets. Our carefully designed programmes will help primary school pupils develop a range of skills and learn how to identify minibeasts, habitats and so much more.
  • Every child has the opportunity to discover the miniature world of nature for themselves; from ponds, minibeast meadows, woodland, the river Tame and a bird hide on stilts. Sandwell is a wonderful setting for a memorable day learning about the wealth of nature on your doorstep.
  • The range of habitats at RSPB Sandwell Valley are all in easy reach of the visitor centre, which means we can provide investigative field work and experience-led programmes to suit your group's needs.
  • Bring your class here and discover more about garden, woodland and wetland habitats. Led by trained and experienced teaching and volunteer staff, our school sessions and activities are fun and engaging. Pupils work together and develop an understanding of nature through practical activities.
  • Each programme is designed to last two hours. Sessions run from 10am–12pm and then 12.30pm–2.30pm. Two programmes can be combined to make a whole-day visit. 

Also, check out our fantastic range of resources for teachers, or take on the Schools’ Wild Challenge.

Downloads

Map to help you find your way around our RSPB Sandwell Valley reserve. PDF, 336Kb.

Sandwell Valley reserve map

Contact Sandwell Valley

Save nature with a staycation in the UK

Family arriving at a Travel Chapter cottage

Saving the nature that you love for future generations to enjoy. Make the most of your visit by staying in one of thousands of handpicked cottages across the UK. Simply book your stay here to support our partnership. Throughout 2021 holidaycottages.co.uk are supporting our conservation work – saving species and restoring habitats right across the UK at a time when the future of our planet has never been more important and protecting nature for future generations.

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What will you see?

Our star species

Recent sightings

Sandwell Valley RSPB reserve, panorama from visitor centre

Find out about recent wildlife sightings at Sandwell Valley.

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Seasonal highlights

Warblers arrive back home. Swallows and sand martins return in April, followed by house martins. Reed buntings and dunnocks start singing, adding their voices to the chorus. Lapwing chicks, goslings and ducklings are a delight to see. Early butterflies and bumblebees visit the spring flowers. The pond life wakes up ready to be explored.

Chiffchaffs sing their two note song from treetops, complementing nine species of warbler setting up homes. Swifts zoom past, hunting insects over the lake. Newts bask in the warm ponds while dragonflies dart around overhead. Beautiful flowers bloom in the meadow and the bee bank buzzes with solitary burrowing bees.

Wading birds stop off on their journeys for a rest. Water rails can be glimpsed when they break cover between the reeds. The leaves turn into vivid reds, oranges and yellows and bullfinches visit the feeding station near the visitor centre. Ring necked parakeets feed on the apple trees in the wildlife garden.

Winter ducks including wigeons, teals, pochards, shovelers and goosanders gather on Forge Mill Lake. Fieldfares and redwings feast on berries in the scrub. 100 snipe and jack snipe gather. The feeding station is a swirl of activity with willow tits, bullfinches and more.

About Sandwell Valley

Habitat

This enchanting urban green space, once used by the nearby colliery, now flourishes with wildlife. RSPB Sandwell Valley is a fascinating mosaic of different habitats providing homes to a variety of wildlife. Wildflower meadows bloom with colour and buzz with insect life. Escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and bathe in the woodland's relaxing atmosphere. The scrub is ideal for nesting birds and fills with winter thrushes feasting on the winter berries. Our wildlife garden might spark some ideas for giving nature a home in your own garden and the ponds are full of life to explore.

Conservation

The nature reserve is a place for wintering water birds to find food and shelter, breeding birds to nest and migrating birds to stop and feed on their long journeys. It’s a home for frogs, toads and newts and special types of bees. The reserve provides a valuable urban green space for people in the local community too.

We manage the lake for special birds in the winter, like goosanders, shovelers and wigeons, and breeding birds such as lapwings and little ringed plovers. We clear vegetation on the islands and have rafts for nesting and roosting water birds.

We have growing reedbeds for birds like water rails and reed buntings. Every year we rake out fallen vegetation and cut back small trees. We're also coppicing and pollarding mature willows in the surrounding wet woodland to provide nesting habitat for Britain’s fastest declining resident bird species - willow tits.

We are managing wet grassland areas for breeding lapwings, as well as wintering waders and water birds. We mow the grass in autumn, and remove willow saplings. Meadows are mowed to keep them open for hunting kestrels, feeding finches and flourishing wildflowers and insects in summer.

Partners

Our thanks goes to all charitable trusts, companies and RSPB local groups who have generously given us their valuable time, effort and support.

  • Heritage Lottery Fund
  • Ibstock Cory Environmental Trust
  • Nature Improvement Areas project has been supported by Defra, DCLG, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission and Natural England, Birmingham & Black Country Nature Improvement Area

Site information

Wild times for all! RSPB Sandwell Valley is a fantastic place to get close to nature. It’s perfect for families to have fun together outdoors. Start your adventure at the visitor centre to find out about the latest activities and events, plot your route and get an idea of what wildlife to look out for at this beautiful countryside oasis.

Discover and play: There’s a lot of nature to explore at RSPB Sandwell Valley. Visitors with little ones can enjoy walks along our buggy-friendly paths, wildlife challenges, activities and natural play features. Wildlife watchers can enjoy exploring the mosaic of habitats, spotting the wildlife that lives here.

Wonderful wildlife: RSPB Sandwell Valley is home to a variety of wildlife. Visit the Lakeside Lookout hide to spot wetland birds with the help of our friendly guides, hire a kit to go bug hunting or pond dipping (seasonal) or just stroll around taking in seasonal highlights such as dragonflies, fungi, wildflowers and more.

Relax and enjoy: Take in the wonderful view from our dog-friendly visitor centre while enjoying a hot drink and a snack. The indoor family activities available are especially great for a rainy day.

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Activities and events

Activities for children and families

There are plenty of activities for families to do. Hire a kit to go pond dipping, bird spotting or bug hunting. Explore the natural play trail with den building, balance beams, secret paths and a mud kitchen.

The Baby Birds parent and toddler group for pre-school children and their carers takes place every Wednesday. The Sandwell Swans, our 8-12-year-old Wildlife Explorers, meet once a month. Check out our events page for lots of family events including Explorer Thursdays during school holidays.

For more information on events and to book tickets, please visit events.rspb.org.uk/sandwellvalley

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Sandwell Valley RSPB reserve, panorama from visitor centre

Schools at Sandwell Valley

 With teaching ponds, minibeast meadows and a hide on stilts, it's a wonderful setting for memorable learning experiences
RSPB Giving Nature a Home Campaign

Join us - legacy

 Become an RSPB member by signing up here.
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Volunteer

 At the RSPB there are hundreds of ways you can volunteer and take action to help save nature.