Buckpool and Fens Pools Nature Reserve

 

Willows, marshland and fragments of ancient woodland support diverse wildlife in Buckpool Dingle, which is a good place to see Kingfishers. Flowering Rush and Arrowhead are plentiful in the Stourbridge Canal which runs alongside, linking Buckpool to the Staffordshire countryside and the Fens Pools.

 

As the largest area of open water in Dudley, the Fens Pools are important for migrating and over-wintering waterfowl, regularly attracting ducks such as Shoveler and Gadwall. Rare winter visitors include Bittern and Red-necked Grebe, whilst breeding birds on the Pools include Mute Swan and Great Crested Grebe.

The smaller ponds north of the Pools are the habitat of huge numbers of frogs, toads and newts, including the Great Crested Newt which has sadly declined in numbers in Britain in recent years.

 

Fens Pools has one of the largest populations of Great Crested Newt in the U.K. and because of this is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

 

Around the Pools and the ponds is a mosaic of scrub, grassland and pioneer vegetation, all natural colonisers of the abandoned waste of the area's coal and iron industries. From this unlikely background a habitat of great richness has developed, which includes many unusual plants. Many of these such as Ploughman's Spikenard, Blue Fleabane and Musk Thistle are tolerant of the lime found in the blast furnace waste. It is possible that Wren's Nest might.