The Shire Brook Valley Local Nature Reserve is located in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, England, on a former

brownfield Brownfield is previously-developed land that has been abandoned or underused, and which may carry pollution, or a risk of pollution, from industrial use. The specific definition of brownfield land varies and is decided by policy makers and l ...

industrial site.

Development

The Local Nature Reserve was designated in 1999 and extends over an area of approximately 100 hectares. ShirebrookValleyVisitorsCenter

It is based around the former site of the Coisley Hill Sewage Works which closed in the early 1990s. The manager's office has been converted into a visitors' centre. The reserve includes Beighton Marsh, an area of reed-grass swamp situated at its eastern end, which supports birds such as

reed bunting The common reed bunting (''Emberiza schoeniclus'') is a passerine bird in the Emberiza, bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name ''Emberiza'' is from Old High German, ...

grasshopper warbler The common grasshopper warbler or just grasshopper warbler (''Locustella naevia'') is a species of Old World warbler in the genus ''Locustella''. It breeds across much of temperate Europe and the western Palearctic. It is migratory, wintering ac ...

and

barn owl The barn owls, owls in the genus '' Tyto'', are the most widely distributed genus of owls in the world. They are medium-sized owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons. The ter ...

, as well as mammals such as the harvest mouse and water vole. The Birley Spa Bath House, a Grade II listed building, was restored with a Heritage Lottery Fund grant in 2001. Also within the reserve is Wickfield Plantation, one of the few remaining areas of lowland heath and coppiced oak woodland inside

. The reserve contains Carr Forge Dam which is fed by a stream from Birley Spa and is a location for wildlife. New ponds were created in the same area to mark the centenary of the City of Sheffield. The Centenary Ponds were opened by

Clive Betts Clive James Charles Betts (born 13 January 1950) is a British Labour Party politician and former economist who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield South East, previously Sheffield Attercliffe since 1992. Early life an ...

on 18 June 1993. Further ponds were created in 2016 to encourage amphibians. Also added to the eastern side of the reserve is a landscaped former landfill site, called Linley Bank Meadow, now home to skylarks and a likely location for soaring buzzards. The reserve is popular with cyclists and walkers, having a network of paths and the Transpennine Trail running through is used by a running club, for orienteering events, geocaching, company team-building days, school visits etc. The reserve has a car-park accessed from Stone Lane. Fishing is banned on the site as most access points involve walking under pylons which has resulted in fishing rods conducting electricity and burning anglers. After one bad accident in 2004, the council took the unusual step of removing all the fish from the site to deter anglers. This decision was criticised by the Countryside Alliance.

Carr Forge Dam

Carr Forge Dam is a dam located in the centre of the reserve. The dam dates back to the

Tudor dynasty The House of Tudor ( ) was an English and Welsh dynasty that held the throne of England from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd, a Welsh noble family, and Catherine of Valois. The Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of Eng ...

, and most of the brickwork still remains. The dam is now mainly used as a wildlife pond, with

toads Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy), ...

frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to ...

and other species including the endangered

Great Crested Newt The northern crested newt, great crested newt or warty newt (''Triturus cristatus'') is a newt species native to Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and parts of Western Siberia. It is a large newt, with females growing up to ...

breeding in the marshes.

Shirebrook Heritage Group

The Shirebrook Heritage Group was established in 1999 to maintain the Valley and its visitor's centre. They run a

Park Ranger A ranger, park ranger, park warden, field ranger, or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands and Protected area, protected areas – private, national, state, provincial, or local parks. Their duties include ( ...

programme and hold regular meetings within the

Birley Spa Birley Spa is a grade-II listed community bath hall and a Victorian bathhouse in the Hackenthorpe district of the City of Sheffield, England. History The bath house was built for Charles Herbert Pierrepont, 2nd Earl Manvers and the Lord of t ...

bath house and the visitor's centre itself.

Shire Brook Valley Conservation Group

Volunteers formed the group in 1989 and have been at the forefront in carrying out habitat conservation work on the nature reserve on a weekly/monthly basis, meeting on Wednesday and Saturday mornings.

References

External links

Shire Brook Valley walking leaflet
Parks in Sheffield Local Nature Reserves in South Yorkshire {{Protected-area-stub