Portway Hill, part of the Rowley Hills

Portway Hill, which is part of the Rowley Hills, is one of our newest nature reserves. Just a few acres of grassland high on the Hills looking out over Sandwell, Birmingham and parts of Dudley, but home to an astounding wealth of grassland wildflowers and butterflies. It's a key part of the wider Rowley Hills grasslands.

This small but vital reserve was acquired as part of our appeal to protect the Rowley Hills.

Backed by spectacular rock exposures of the Rowley Rag, carpeted in wildflowers and with butterflies filling the air, there's no finer place to appreciate the living landscape of wildlife sites in the wider cityscape.

The reserve boasts scarce plants, like the exotic Bee Orchid and the unusual hare's foot clover.

The reserve also boasts many important butterfly species, including one of the few colonies of Marbled White Butterflies in Birmingham and the Black Country.

The site is excellent for birds with birds of prey such as peregrines and kestrels as well as birds which enjoy the open grassland and those, like warblers, which may be found in the scrub at the edges of the site.

Always interesting to visit, whether it’s wide ranging views, colourful flowers and butterflies or birds are your interest.