Halesowen Gardeners Club

The March meeting of the Club was held on Monday 1st March in the Shenstone Theatre and our speaker was John Robinson who gave an interesting and well illustrated talk on The Natural History of the Wyre Forest. Mr Robinson retired from his work in the Wyre Forest some ten years ago and obviously has a vast knowledge of the wildlife in and around the area. He has won many awards for his photography particulary from wildlife magazines and gave us an insight into what was required to get that special photograph of seeds bursting from a plant, a woodpecker hunting for grubs or a bird of prey in flight. Mr Robinson commenced his talk by giving a brief history of the forest and the work that was once carried out including hazel coppicing and the making of charcoal. The way that the forest was managed has had a profound effect upon the wildlife there today and Mr Robinson gave examples showing how the flora had developed and then attracted the fauna and types of birds and animals. There were excellent photographs of a dormouse just coming out of hibernation, foxes, badgers, fallow deer and grass snakes as well as many plants and birds. The number of adders to be found had decreased over the last few years and Mr Robinson thought that this was in no small way due to the increase in the buzzard population – a bird of prey rarely seen in the area 30 years ago. Mr Robinson had in the past created wildlife gardens and showed photographs of his wild life garden at Lambeth Palace in London.