Back in August I made my second trip to Birmingham Airport in a couple of months to go spotting and, with the wind blowing in the opposite direction to my previous visit, this gave me the opportunity to try out the other main spotting location around the airport, Sheldon Country Park. Located around the northern end of the airfield, underneath the approach to runway 15, Sheldon Country Park is a public green space and is a great place to watch arrivals when aircraft are using that runway. Completely free to use, although limited in facilities, the park is easily accessible by both car and public transport. If you want to check out my AvGeek spot review from my previous visit to Birmingham Airport, you can find that here.
By public transport, the easiest way to access the park is to get the train to Marston Green and take the short walk from there into the country park. Marston Green is the stop before Birmingham International on the local trains from Birmingham New Street, with services every 30 minutes most of the time. It takes around 15 minutes on a train from New Street with an adult anytime day return costing £9.30. However, my top tip is to buy an anytime or off-peak return to Birmingham International (not advance singles), as these tickets allow you to ‘split’ your journey, meaning you can jump off at Marston Green to do some spotting and then head to International to use the facilities.
From Marston Green station it is a four-minute walk to the entrance of Sheldon Country Park, and only eight minutes to a point where you can see the aircraft. Alternatively, you can drive and use the free car park at the Sheldon end of the park, about a 15-minute walk from the end of the runway. As I mentioned above, there are not many facilities within the park, with only a tea rooms close to the car park and as such, a trip to Birmingham International station to visit the shop or fast-food retailers may be needed. Whatever you do, make sure to take plenty of water, especially in the summer, as the area around the end of the runway has limited shade.
Generally, this spot is good for photos of aircraft landing on runway 15, however isn’t great for departure photos owing to a grass bank that obscures the taxiway and bottom of the aircraft. There’s a load of benches to the west of the centreline that you can base yourself from, however be warned that due to their location, any photos of arriving aircraft from here will be backlit in the morning. For this visit I had stayed overnight in Birmingham so was able to get to the airport earlier than normal and so arrived during the tail end of the wave of morning departures. There were a few arrivals at this time including a pair of SunExpress Boeing 737s from Turkey, the obligatory Ryanair and a KLM arrival from Amsterdam. After a bit of a gap there was also the arrival of Turkish Airlines Airbus A321 from Istanbul, after the arrival of which I decided to head to International to use the facilities.
Returning for a second spotting stint later in the morning, I was able to see a reasonable mix of both aircraft and airlines, with Birmingham being served by numerous flag carries, low-cost carriers and charter airlines. The highlights of the day were definitely the arrivals of the Emirates Airbus A380 and Qatar Airways Boeing B787 from the Middle East, although I was also pleased to see the relatively tiny ATRs of Emerald Airlines arrive on an Aer Lingus Regional flight from Dublin and Loganair from Aberdeen. In the end I spent around four hours spotting in two stints, seeing a good mix of the airlines and aircraft that Birmingham has to offer.
Overall, Sheldon Country Park is a pretty good spot for plane spotting, and reasonably okay for photography, with easy access by both car and public transport. However, there are very limited facilities, realistically meaning a trip to the station at Birmingham International to use the facilities there, especially if you visit when the tea rooms are closed. Nonetheless, it’s a good free spot with decent views at an airport with a reasonable mix of traffic.
Viewing location 3*
Charge (free) 5*
Facilities 0*
Variety of Traffic 3*
BHX (Sheldon CP) Overall Score 2.75*
Flights & Times 