A number of dead birds have been found in a pond at a Smethwick park.

An eyewitness suggested up to nine geese may have died over the last 10 days at Smethwick Hall Park, with a further two ill birds being taken away by RSPCA inspectors for treatment.

Image source, Mandy Hall

The Environment Agency said a raven and moorhen had also died at the site.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said visible evidence of sewage had been seen in the water when staff visited two months ago and again a month ago "as a result of a blockage".

Severn Trent said it had been working to improve the quality of water at the pool by pumping clean water into it, and was "confident the quality of the pool is much improved as a result and that these bird deaths are unconnected".

The Environment Agency said no fish had so far been found dead.

Image source, Mandy Hall

Local resident Mandy Hall who has been visiting the site described the scene as "heartbreaking".

"I must have seen eight or nine dead birds in total," she said, "it was absolutely awful".

"There was one bird that was dying in front of us, and no one could reach it."

"Even the people sent down to recover the birds were really upset, the whole thing is awful."

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Carl Jackson

About 70 children in Birmingham are members of street gangs embroiled in dealing drugs, stashing weapons and enabling modern slavery, according to a report.

Image source, PA Media

The statistic is detailed in Birmingham City Council’s latest youth justice strategic plan , externalwhich was debated at full council on Tuesday.

It states 69 children under the age of 18 had been identified as being members of urban street gangs in Birmingham, some of which are heavily involved in drug distribution acting as "feeder groups" for one of the city’s more serious organised crime groups.

Many more children are on the periphery or at risk of gang affiliation, it found.

Children are used to transport and hide weapons and to secure dwellings of vulnerable people so that they can use them as a base from which to sell drugs, it added.

The report outlines the response to gang activity including the formation of the Birmingham Guns, Gangs and Organised Criminality Partnership which has produced the city-wide "organised crime and gangs strategy".

An £8m school for students with special educational needs is going to be built in Hereford.

The Interserve group has been given the contract for the Beacon College Special Academy, which will be built on the former Broadlands Primary School site (pictured below).

Image source, Google

It will be run by Hereford's Barrs Court School Academy Trust and will cater for 50 students aged 16 to 19 with severe and complex learning disabilities, including autism.

BBC Weather Watchers

It's another cloudy day and that's creating all sorts of interesting lighting for the BBC Weather Watchers, who all seem to be walking through fields today.

These ones were taken near Caynham, Lower Broadheath and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Image source, WBF

Image source, NightNurse

Image source, Mikesnapper

Coventry Observer

Some of the Coventry Observer headlines today are:

• Burglar caught after DNA found on knife left in bedroom, external
• Warwick University apologises for rape chat scandal response, external
• Mum's sight saved in pioneering operation, external

Desmond Wooding was found stabbed to death in his bungalow in Vines Lane, Droitwich, last month.

Former Newcastle United midfielder Danny Guthrie joins Walsall, who also sign Mat Sadler and Wes McDonald.

A jury ruled the banned weapon was deliberately designed to look like a flashlight.

Ben Perrin
BBC Online

A businessman has been convicted for having a "10,000-volt" stun gun disguised as a torch, found among an "array of weapons" inside his "fortified" home.

The banned weapon was found in the Tamworth home of Thomas Kavanagh following his arrest at Birmingham Airport in connection to a firearms and drugs investigation.

He admitted possessing the item, but denied it was deliberately designed with an appearance of a flashlight.

Kavanagh, 51, was bailed until his sentence on 2 September.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Joe Sweeney

People in Wolverhampton are being warned about the dangers of unregulated cosmetic surgery and body art.

Wolverhampton city councillors decided to take action after being shown graphic images of procedures that had gone wrong.

They including people being left with second degree burns, and a woman who was left unable to walk after a pedicure - after a procedure likened to having a potato peeler applied to the skin.

Image source, Getty Images

The council's Senior Environmental Health Officer Charlotte Rose told members: "The problem is that anyone can – and does – practise carrying out these procedures with no training. And we are powerless to stop them."

Deputy mayor Greg Brackenridge said something needed to be done, because, “You can guarantee that the guy who works on Kim Kardashian’s backside is not going to be the same as a guy operating in a back alley in Wolverhampton.”

It's been a good morning for those England cricket fans lucky enough to be at Edgbaston.

They'll have seen England bowl out the Aussies for 223 and give the batsmen a real chance of reaching the final of the World Cup.

Image source, Getty Images

"Brummie Botham" Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid both took three wickets and the total would have been a lot lower if it wasn't for 85 from the Australian captain Steve Smith.

It should be advantage England, but we all know it's never as simple as that...

BBC Radio Stoke Sport

Crewe Alexandra coach Alex Morris accepts they may have to bring through more young players this season, after bringing in just two players so far this summer.

He said they're looking to sign a striker and a centre half, but it's been hard to get the right sort of player.

Image source, Getty Images

Morris said they could be "relying on our younger players to improve at a rate that's good enough" to force themselves into the team.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

Here are three of the stories featuring on the Stoke-on-Trent Live website today:

• Burglars 'ransack' barber's shop, external
• Dad's agonising life-or-death surgery dilemma, external
• Weather warning for thunderstorms issued, external

A new date has been found for Bridgnorth's carnival, after it had to be postponed in June due to flooding.

The new event, on 22 September, will still include a procession, ending in the castle grounds, where there will be prize presentations and "entertainment and refreshments".

Image source, Bridgnorth Town Council

The carnival committee said last month it was looking to do a scaled-down event, but didn't want to cancel, because it didn't want the hard work of people taking part in the procession to go to waste.

Newcastle-under-Lyme's old register office is going to be sold off, with permission to turn it into either one house or two flats, as well as building three detached homes in the grounds.

The borough council-owned building on Sidmouth Avenue has been empty since last year.

Image source, Google

The local authority has moved services to its new Castle House offices.

A union says its members feel "disempowered and devalued" by their employer.

People are being asked to help name Telford's newest footbridge, with local heroes Captain Webb, Billy Wright, Sir Gordon Richards and Katherine Harley all on the shortlist.

The £10m bridge, which connects Telford Central railway station with the town centre, opened in December after a huge engineering project.

Image source, Telford and Wrekin Council

More than 200 school pupils took part in a challenge to name the bridge, and that list has been cut down.

Another of the suggestions from the children is Silver Swallow, because of the appearance of the footbridge.

The online vote , externalends on 30 August.

Parts of the West Midlands could be affected by thunderstorms later, with some disruption to travel expected.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning which is in place from 13:00 to 21:00.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Gurdip Thandi

Cuts to car parking charges, live shows and electric car charging points are all part of a plan to improve Walsall town centre, which goes before councillors next week.

They form the first phase of a masterplan, aimed at breathing new life into the centre, which Walsall Council describes as "visionary yet deliverable".

The council says it has to recognise that town centres are facing "ever changing market conditions" and it hopes £500m will be spent on the centre over the next 20 years.

A budget of more than £600,000 will be set aside for this first phase, if the plans are approved at a meeting on 17 July.

Coventry Live

Some of today's headlines on the Coventry Live website are:

• Machete and air pistol seized by firearms squad, external
• New opening date for The Wave announced, external
• Coventry driver killed in fatal crash, external