Cannock Chase Council Countryside Service

08/10/2026

Thursday fun: Caption this!

27/09/2026

We had a team day out to the APF Forestry Show! We came back with a huge shopping list!! Sorry to our managers!!! It was so cool seeing some old school forestry machines and tractors, and also the huge new beasties. Hollie and Sage had a go at horse logging, and now obviously we want to train the cows to do timber extraction on our more sensitive sites...

25/09/2026

21/09/2026

Last week we joined colleagues from other organisations at the West Midlands Heathland Forum, organised by Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and hosted by Birmingham City Council. We visited the beautiful Lickey Hills Country Park, an area of upland heath (the Cannock area is lowland heath). It was great to see how areas of land are recovering after major fires in recent years, and to share ideas with each other for managing our own areas of land.

Read here to learn more about why our heaths are so important: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/habitats/heathland-and-moorland

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust Birmingham City Council

18/09/2026

17/09/2026

Ivy is a massively important food source at this time of year!

Ivy is a fantastic late flowering plant for pollinators. If you look closely you might be lucky to spot an Ivy Bee!

Ivy Bees are common in continental Europe, but they have only fairly recently made the hop across the channel to the UK.

They were first recorded in Dorset in 2001 and in 2015 they were recorded in Birmingham and the Black Country for the first time.

We need your help to discover how widespread this species is in 2026.

Ivy Bee’s main food source are Ivy flowers and are seen from September to late November during the flowering period of Ivy.

They are a solitary species, but nest in dense aggregations underground in sandy, light soils.

Take part in our Ivy Bee Survey by visiting an Ivy bush that is in flower on a dry, clear day and photograph any Ivy Bees you see.

You can then share your sightings via iNaturalist or by posting the details below:

17/09/2026

Contact West Midland Bird Club if you can help!

We’re looking for volunteers to take part in the 2027 Cannock Chase Breeding Bird Survey.

🦉 Can you identify heathland and woodland birds by sight and sound?
📆 Could you visit Cannock Chase fortnightly from February to July 2027?
🔭 Fancy getting involved in real citizen science?

We’d love to hear from you!
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Volunteers are allotted a sector to survey at approximately fortnightly intervals between late February and July 2027. Ideally we allocate two volunteers per sector for health and safety and ease of recording.

This will include two crepuscular visits in late May/June for Nightjars, Woodcock and Owls. Your results will help monitor and protect vulnerable birds and their habitat.

For more information and to get involved contact Chris Evans : [email protected]

10/09/2026

As we head into autumn, we would like to remind everybody that picking mushrooms, plants, and fungi at Hednesford Hills is strictly forbidden.

This site is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and any collecting (personal or commercial) requires permission from Natural England. Prosecution can lead to large fines. We actively report those suspected of collecting to both the police, and to Natural England.

Staffordshire Police Rural & Wildlife Crime
Natural England
Cannock Chase Life

03/09/2026

Some (maybe) interesting things about our bovine beauties:
🐄 We have a small herd of Dexter cattle, they are a hardy breed and are perfectly suited to outdoor life, especially up on Hednesford Hills.
🐄 They are used to carry out 'Conservation Grazing' which is a land management technique whereby the cattle manage the vegetation. This helps to replicate ancient ways, unfortunately we don't have auroch in this country anymore! (I would totes love an auroch or two).
🐄 The cows disturb the ground with their hooves which benefits a range of other animals including insects, reptiles, birds, and small mammals.
🐄 The way they rip the vegetation with their tongues also helps create different sward (grass) heights which is good for different species of butterflies and moths.
🐄 Our girls have all the food they need, so please don't feed them.
🐄 Cow poo is fab for beetles! Our staff can often be found prodding p**p to look for cool things. That is our excuse and we are sticking to it.
🐄 We don't breed our cows, and we let them live a long, natural life as much as they can. Our oldest lady is Bramble, she is 16 years old!