Kingfisher Country Park

Address

Cole Valley Road, Birmingham, B28 0DG

Plan your journey.

About the park

Kingfisher Country Park was opened in July, 2004. The park was created to care for an 11km stretch of the River Cole valley, improving it both for people and wildlife.

The valley contains many different types of landscape and wildlife habitats. Alongside the river there are areas of formal public open space, tall herbs and scrub, coarse grassland, wetland with several small ponds and ancient woodland.

There are a number of man-made lakes in the park. The lake at Shard End has been created in the remains of an old gravel quarry, whilst Babbs Mill Lake in Kingshurst was formed as a balancing feature in times of flood.

Awards and status

• Country Park
• Local Nature Reserve

Lake or reservoir

Yes

Wildlife

Along the river, kingfishers and herons are a common sight, feeding on fish in the river. Water voles and mink are both associated with the river and, more recently, otters have been recorded at the lower reaches of the Cole.

Over the years several ponds have been dug at Shard End to make the most of the natural wetland within the valley. These have now developed to become havens for pond invertebrates and amphibians. Common toads, frogs and smooth newts can be found alongside dragonflies and damselflies, beetles, water boatmen and water scorpions, all of which live in and around the ponds. In winter, teals have become regular visitors to the ponds, and widgeons have also been recorded.

Next to the pond is an area of coarse grassland where skylarks have bred successfully for a number of years.

Yorks Wood at Kingshurst is an eleven-hectare ancient woodland. is home to a wide variety of birds, with sparrow hawks and greater spotted woodpeckers breeding every year. In spring the woodland floor is a carpet of bluebells.

Wood anemone and celandine can also be found in other areas of the wood throughout spring. Towards the end of the year many species of fungi can be found, which helps to make the wood an all year round attraction.

Woodland

Yorks Wood at Kingshurst is an 11 hectare ancient woodland, made up mainly of oak trees.
There are records of a woodland on this site that go back over hundreds of years.
The wood was declared a Local Nature Reserve in the 1990s.