Fens Pools () is a 37.6 hectare (92.9 acre) biological site of Special Scientific Interest in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Ro ...

. The site was notified in 1989.Fens Pools
''

English Nature English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006. It was a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Environme ...

''. Retrieved on 25 March 2020. under the

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species (especia ...

and is currently managed by the Country Trust.

History

The pools, which consist of Grove Pool, Middle Pool and Fens Pool, were originally constructed by the

Stourbridge Canal The Stourbridge Canal is a canal in the West Midlands of England. It links the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (at Stourton Junction, affording access to traffic from the River Severn) with the Dudley Canal, and hence, via the Birmingha ...

Company. The canal was opened in 1779, and the lake reservoirs fed into a navigable branch which joined the canal's main line at Leys Junction, close to the top of the Stourbridge Flight of 16 locks, through which the level of the canal falls by 145 feet (44.2m). Nicholson Waterways Guide, Volume 2 (2006), Harper Collins Publishing Ltd, The reservoirs formed the main source of water supply for these locks, until it was supplemented by water leaving the

Dudley Canal The Dudley Canal is a canal passing through Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The canal is part of the English and Welsh connected network of navigable inland waterways, and in particular forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat ...

, with which the Stourbridge Canal made an end-on junction in 1792.

Location

The area is situated between

Pensnett Pensnett is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England, south-west of central Dudley. Pensnett has been a part of Dudley since 1966, when the Brierley Hill Urban District, of which it was a part, was absorbed into th ...

and

Brierley Hill Brierley Hill is a town and ward (division), electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, 2.5 miles south of Dudley and 2 miles north of Stourbridge. Part of the Black Country and in a h ...

in the

Metropolitan Borough of Dudley The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stou ...

. It forms part of the larger Buckpool and Fens Pool Local Nature Reserve.

Wildlife

The site includes open water, swamps, fens and flood vegetation, unimproved grassland and scrub. It is the best place in the West Midlands for amphibians, with the

common frog The common frog or grass frog (''Rana temporaria''), also known as the European common frog, European common brown frog, European grass frog, European Holarctic true frog, European pond frog or European brown frog, is a semi-aquatic amphibian ...

common toad The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (''Bufo bufo'', from Latin ''bufo'' "toad"), is a frog found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, and some Mediterranean islands), in ...

, smooth newt and

great crested newt The northern crested newt, great crested newt or warty newt (''Triturus cristatus'') is a newt species native to Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and parts of Western Siberia. It is a large newt, with females growing up t ...

breeding here, this site having the largest population of great crested newts in the West Midlands. As well as a variety of grasses and sedges, there are mare’s-tail,

common club-rush ''Schoenoplectus lacustris'', the lakeshore bulrush or common club-rush, is a species of club-rush (genus '' Schoenoplectus'') that grows in fresh water across Europe and some neighbouring areas. Description ''Schoenoplectus lacustris'' grows up ...

orange foxtail ''Alopecurus aequalis'' is a common species of grass known as shortawn foxtail or orange foxtail. It is native to much of the temperate Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to North America. It is most commonly found in areas near fresh water, such a ...

and lesser water-parsnip. Some unimproved natural grassland shows signs of ancient ridge and furrow cultivation and supports the rare adder’s-tongue fern. At least ten species of

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

have been observed here, and over twenty species of

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

. Birds that breed here include the

reed warbler The ''Acrocephalus'' warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Acrocephalus''. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler famil ...

, the

sedge warbler The sedge warbler (''Acrocephalus schoenobaenus'') is an Old World warbler in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. It is a medium-sized warbler with a brown, streaked back and wings and a distinct pale supercilium. Sedge warblers are migratory, crossing ...

, the

lesser whitethroat The lesser whitethroat (''Curruca curruca'') is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds in temperate Europe, except the southwest, and in the western and central Palearctic. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, winte ...

and the

great crested grebe The great crested grebe (''Podiceps cristatus'') is a member of the grebe family of water birds noted for its elaborate mating display. Taxonomy The great crested grebe was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in ...

, and sometimes the

little ringed plover The little ringed plover (''Charadrius dubius'') is a small plover. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek ''kharadrios'' a bird found in river ...

. The pools provide a large expanse of open water, and form an important habitat for over-wintering and migrating birds.

Shoveler The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks: * Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea'' * Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii'' * Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis'' * Northern shoveler, ''Anas cl ...

s and

gadwall The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. Taxonomy The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown th ...

s can regularly be seen, while

bittern Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' in Old English; the word "bittern ...

s have also been observed.Dudley MB Council Parks and Nature Reserves

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fens Pools Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1989 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the West Midlands (county) Canal reservoirs in England Reservoirs in the West Midlands (county)

History

Location

Wildlife

See also

References