dark skies near Birmingham UK

[Spiderduck]

any suggestions from "old hands"....?

[ronin]

Going to ask for a bit more accurate a location then Birmingham, apologies if it is "Birmingham" but places like Hall Green, Kings Heath, Yardley get thrown into "Birmingham"

Quick look suggest North of Birmingham is difficult but South has possibilities and South East (Warwick direction) and South West (Kidderminster direction) even better.

Also how far are you thinking of travelling, also in realistic terms how dark.

[PorkyB]

Very much depends what you are looking for.  You only need to get 15 miles out of Birmingham for it to be noticeably darker, or you can go to Wales if you want it to be properly dark.

There are plenty of road-side locations if you don't mind a bit of traffic and the occasional unwanted attention of assorted "interesting" people.  I use these for a quick bit of visual, but I don't like to get all my imaging gear out, especially if I'm on my own.

Locations which you might think are good, like the Clent Hills, Lickeys, Cannock Chase etc. are pretty much no-go areas at night.  The "kennel club" make things pretty unpleasant and police policy seems to be to move everyone on, without even asking what they're doing (which is understandable given the job they have to do).

Camp sites are a good bet, especially in winter.  You might have to pay but there is something reassuring about being on the inside of a closed gate.  It's also worth finding out if any local clubs have dark sites.

South and West of Birmingham give the best views for most targets.  If you have transport and don't mind a bit of a drive then there are a few places worth investigating.  One night, when the weather looks good and I can stay out all night, I would like to have a look around Church Stretton.

[ronin]

How about Upper and Lower Bittell Reservoir's ?

Not exactly a distance out but if anything like the ones around here they are reasonably dark, have roads to access them and carparks, picnic areas and laybys around them for you to use.

Otherwise it seems to be outside the square" formed by the M5, M42 and M6.

Another (water again) could be the "lakes" or whatever North East at Kingsbury?

Suppose the 7th green at The Belfry is out of the question?

[DaveS]

I suggest you have a look here

http://www.avex-asso.org/dossiers/pl/uk/index.html

[Liquid360]

Using dark sky app for iOS...ul

[laser_jock99]

Just head West......