Busy Bloggin' - Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust

Here you’ll find some fascinating stories on a range of subjects from people who love and work for wildlife. While some are specialists, many are volunteers or people who simply love wildlife – just like you!

If you’d like to become one of our regular bloggers, get in touch with us

Nature Counts

The latest news of species which have been seen around Sheffield and Rotherham. Tell us what you’ve spotted at wildsheffield.com/sightings

Lions of the Lawn

Discover some of the predators stalking through your garden’s grassland.

A child wearing a dress is standing in a wildflower meadow, using binoculars

Glorious grasslands

A summer meadow is a beautiful sight, but there’s so much more to it than gently waving grass heads and fabulous flowers.

Owlthorpe Fields

A reflection by Nicky Rivers on how Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust have supported Owlthorpe Fields Action Group.

Wild by the water

Lakes, rivers, canals and streams are brimming with wildlife to discover!

The people behind the records: Sandra

Sandra Fretwell-Smith is just one of the remarkable people recording wildlife and sending sightings in to our Nature Counts project.

The people behind the records: Wendy

Wendy Birks is a bit of a recording superstar – she has sent in 2558 records so far to to our Nature Counts project!

Wooing in the wild

A peek at the passionate world of animal courtship!

How to identify owls

how do you tell one owl from another? Here’s our guide to the five species you’re likely to spot in the UK!

Mammal mysteries

Have you spotted any mysterious tracks or animal droppings? Solve the case with tips from our mammal detective!

Moths & Butterflies in Winter

Discover the different ways that moths and butterflies spend the winter.

Birds of prey – How to spot them

A short introduction on how to spot 5 bird of prey species

Reversing the ‘new normal’

Chris Smith, Senior Outdoor Learning Officer reveals his ulterior motive for getting everyone – especially children – outdoors.

A dawn chorus walk at Blacka Moor

Keen birdwatcher (and Nature Counts wildlife recording star) Wendy Birks takes us through a morning of birding on the beautiful Blacka Moor at the peak of the dawn chorus season.

Beat the Street

Beat the Street in Rotherham, a giant game played in real time in the roads, parks and green spaces surrounding throughout the town. Walk, run, cycle, scoot or skip between Beat Boxes, tap in and collect points, whilst exploring every nook and cranny of your local area

The humble house sparrow

Tom Hibbert, birdwatcher and content officer for The Wildlife Trusts, takes a closer look at one of the UK’s most familiar birds.

The Water vole

Water voles are Britain’s largest voles, with fully grown adults reaching lengths of 20cm (plus a 12cm tail) and weighing up to 350g. They are charismatic little creatures with a round face, a blunt nose, a short furry tail and glossy dark brown or black fur.

Nature Adventure – a mindful ‘noticing walk’ with my children

I asked my children not to talk about memories or future plans and just to walk slowly and really look at our surroundings, and to ‘notice’ things of interest.

Why should we care about disappearing insects? By Professor Dave Goulson

What have insects ever done for us? Really quite a lot actually, as Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex explains.

Explore my ‘titchy urban garden’

You are invited into the garden of Outdoor Learning Officer, Sarah Lamb to investigate what interesting nature adventures could be found in her ‘titchy urban garden’.

View from Pears House, where the Sheffield Lakeland Landscape partnership have been working with local farmers to slow the flow

Natural solutions to the climate crisis

Healthy natural habitats can store huge amounts of carbon, but many of our wild places are damaged, fragmented and threatened with further destruction. To tackle the climate emergency, we need to protect and restore our wild places.

Dip into the world of dabbling ducks

Our lakes, rivers, reservoirs and coasts are a winter home for an estimated 2.1 million ducks! Here’s an introduction and ID guide to the dabbling ducks you’re most likely to see this winter.

Be Wild for World Mental Health Day!

We’re celebrating how connecting with the natural ecosystem we’re all part of can improve our mental health and wellbeing. Discover how the natural environment can enrich your life.

Wandering the Woodlands

Volunteer Libby continues her blog with woodland monitoring and an unexpected encounter!

Wild and well

Volunteering with us isn’t just great for wildlife, it’s good for you too, as Dom Higgens explains.

An opportunity ‘newt’ to be missed

Libby’s latest exciting adventure; on the hunt for newts.

Hunting for harvest mice

Libby Pool on her experience hunting for harvest mice as a volunteer on our Data for Nature project.

Take a closer look

Hannah Hudson-Lee is an author and artist inspired by nature. She shares how botanical illustration and some of its historical quirks inspire her.

“Protect your sandwiches at all costs!”

Discover the reason behind this sage advice from a seasoned volunteer!

25 years of support

Partnerships Manager Ellen Kinsley looks at some of the highlights from 25 years of support from The National Lottery.

Are you seeing the big picture when it comes to insect decline?

There are easy steps we can all take to improve the situation for our insects and open-up our eyes to the current reality and the possibilities ahead.