Bartley Reservoir is a reservoir for drinking water in Birmingham, England. It covers 46 hectares.

It is known as the place where Bill Oddie did much of his early birdwatching, and features in his books (notably Bill Oddie's Gone Birding) and television programmes. His first ever published article, for the West Midland Bird Club's annual report, was about the birds of the reservoir.

History

Most of the land occupied by Bartley Reservoir was in the parish of Northfield, originally in Worcestershire. It was transferred to Warwickshire when Northfield became part of Birmingham in November, 1911.

However, the south-west end of the reservoir overlapped into the parish of Frankley, in Worcestershire (Hereford and Worcester, from 1974). In April 1995 part of Frankley (including the south-west part of Bartley Reservoir) was transferred to Birmingham and became part of the West Midlands county.

External links

• West Midland Bird Club page on Bartley Reservoir
• Bartley Reservoir article by Bill Oddie, from West Midlands Bird Club's archive
• Map showing location of Bartley Reservoir