Nature reserve work
A three-year project has seen a historic nature reserve restored back to its full health in time for a public opening on Sunday.
After several thousands of pounds were poured into the project Deer's Leap Wood near Smethwick has finally been clawed back from a decade’s worth of rubbish build up to become safe ground again.
Volunteers at The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country have clubbed together to rejuvenate the historic patch known for its medieval roots.
On public opening guided walks will take place amongst other activities including pond dipping for small children, all of which will demonstrate the new safe condition of the site.
The site later became associated with the world famous Mitchells & Butlers Brewery which adopted the ‘Leaping Deer’ as its company motif for over 100 years.
The reserve was taken on by the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country in 2014 with funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Tesco Bags of Help enabling the trust to regenerate the site.
A friends group established in 1985 in order to campaign to protect the area played an instrumental role in its restoration.
The Friends of Deers Leap Wood meet the first Sunday of every month at the site to take part in its upkeep.
Of the involvement group chair Douglas Allenby, 56, said: “We’re doing a lot of hedge and tree planting. We manage the ponds. We put up and maintain things like bird boxes.
“Things like climate change, nature conservation, all these things are important.
The operation has seen unsafe trees removed and Boundary Brook cleared so the water flows freely once more. New paths have also been created to make the site more accessible.
The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country senior ecologist Paul Stephenson, 58, said: “In the last few years there’s been a lot of work to make the site a safe condition, we’ve done a lot of tree planting, we’ve got a meadow we’re restoring.
“It’s a continual thing really, working with local volunteers, the friends group and also residents association particularly, plus some involvement with local schools we’re gradually getting the site better and better.
“With the funding we’ve had from Tesco Bags of Help we’ve put in a lot of new footpath which has made it much more accessible.
“We’ve still got some work to do but it makes it much more amenable for people to use. Now it’s in a much better and stable condition we’ll allow people to come in and use it as and when."
