The Environment Agency has begun work to improve existing habitat and to create new areas to increase the amount of good habitat available for ground nesting breeding birds and feeding waders at RSPB Sandwell Valley. The work is part of the Perry Barr and Witton flood scheme.

The work has been designed in partnership with the RSPB who manage the site and who have been monitoring the wildlife using the area. It includes increasing the amount of island edge in the lake by creating areas of shallow water and gradually sloping banks. An area of reedbed along the lake edge is being formed to add further habitat interest for the local wildlife.

The Sandwell Valley work is being done as part of the Perry Barr and Witton flood risk management scheme to deliver better protection to 1,379 properties. The scheme may lead to more frequent fluctuations in lake water levels. To compensate for the disturbance to wildlife the works should provide greater available habitat for the wildlife.

Work at RSPB Sandwell Valley is expected to be complete by the end of this week. The work is being complemented by habitat creation and restoration work elsewhere across the construction site and in adjacent areas. This includes woodland and hedgerow creation and management, grassland management and wetland habitat creation. Species that will benefit from the work include lapwing, little ringed plover and snipe.

Kathryn Edwards, Senior Environmental Project Manager, at the Environment Agency said:

We’re really pleased to be working with the RSPB on this project and hope it will result in many more birds nesting at, and visiting, the site.