Tuesday 11th August 2026 brought our second consecutive BioBlitz event at the wonderful Wardsend Cemetery Heritage Park. This event is a chance for everyone to become a wildlife explorer for the day and help find as many species as possible in the area. We had an amazing team of explorers consisting of catchment volunteers, families, community members and local experts. Thanks to all those involved, we were able to count more than 70 species of life in the Heritage Park!
At this year’s event we had stalls and activities hosted by different groups. The Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust had a nature trail running through the cemetery, allowing participants to discover different trees above us. They also had a clay minibeast station, helping people to create their own critters using their imagination. Some trees counted included downy birch, sycamore, oak, silver birch and more.
The Sheffield River Rangers returned from the flows of the River Don with a bucket full of water and little creatures. They had conducted a kick sample of riverfly invertebrates, the same way they do throughout the summer on their independent sites in the catchment. Volunteers Paul Hancock and Joanne Lee, and DCRT’s Riverfly coordinator Erika Pheonix counted 13 species of freshwater invertebrates, with the help of members of the public and keen eyed kids. Species included different types of caseless caddisflies and cased caddisflies, stoneflies, freshwater shrimp and then mollusks like the Jenkins Spire Shell and river limpet.
Under the orchard shelter we had our investigation hub where families were able to take a sweep net or butterfly nets and explore the site, seeing what they could catch. Our DCRT staff were on hand to help identify the bugs with the use of microscopes and field guides. Lots of minibeasts were found including forest bugs, crab spiders and seven spot ladybird.
Our wonderful hosts, Wardsend Cemetery also had a stall, displaying lots of fascinating information about the history of the site and how the volunteers have helped to conserve the nature all whilst looking after the graves that are spread all over. Armed with wood cut outs and hand tools, they also had bird boxes ready to be assembled. The Friends of group here have put up numerous bird boxes over the years, looking to target different bird species such as great tits. Throughout the day we spotted the following birds: sparrowhawk, blackbird, dipper, jay, feral pigeon, chiffchaff, wood pigeon and more. The summer months can be quieter for birds as the breeding season has finished and they are moulting their worn out feathers. In spring and earlier in the summer, birds sing to claim territories and attract mates so by August, they don’t make so much noise. Why not revisit Wardsend in the spring months and let us know what you see and hear! Get in touch if you would like our BioBlitz observation sheets to take with you.
On our final stall, we were joined by Friends of Loxley Valley with their ‘What’s in the box?’ game as well as lots of interesting information about the river that joins the Don just downstream of Wardsend. Did you know that there were 24 known mills, wheels and forges in the valley? You can visit the valley today, exploring the walking trails and discovering old mill infrastructure such as weirs and goits.
As well as stalls we had other activities running throughout the day. Such included our Big Butterfly Hunt. We grabbed our nets and headed up to the meadow at the top of the site where one of our mini explorers managed to net a Meadow Brown. Heading down to the river front where all the buddleia plants gave us the real test of our netting skills. Trying to avoid the brambles and watch the steep slope all whilst not letting the fluttery insects fly off proved a challenge. We observed and caught plenty in the end, including peacock, small white, large white, green veined white and painted ladies.
Not forgetting our night favouring fluttery insects, our amazing volunteer Sean Ashton set out three moth traps at Wardsend on Thursday night. Two were in the woods and one was by the river. These are black buckets, with a battery pack powered light source inside, and a white funnel to guide them into the bucket. Sean then identified them on the morning, counting up to 21 species, 7 of which were new to the site! One of these is the beautiful Small Ranunculus pictured below.
One thing we were not able to do, despite it being such a hit last year, was our electrofishing demonstration. In late summer, our Fisheries Officer Matt Duffy conducts electrofishing surveys where a high tech bit of equipment sends out an electrical pulse into the water, drawing the fish towards it and thus making it easier to net them. The fish are temporarily stunned so that it is easier to catch them. They are recorded for their species and size and then put straight back into the river, not experiencing any harm in the process. Matt does this so we know what fish species are in the river, particularly looking for those in the Salmonidae family. These include your migratory species of trout and salmon, where presence would suggest the successful use of our fish passes and barrier removals. On this BioBlitz day, we were not able to electrofish due to the summer sun. The sun had warmed up the river to above safe conditions to be disturbing the fish. With fish welfare coming first, Matt instead talked to visitors about the typical fish found in the Don and showed off his Ghostbuster looking electrofishing outfit.
So how did we do this year? Counting over 70 species is an amazing number and we are very grateful to all those who came and explored with us! It is important to think about how such a hot and dry summer impacted the wildlife around us. As mentioned, we couldn’t get in the river to count the fish as the prolonged hot temperatures made it unsafe for us to disturb the fish. A hot river also means there is less dissolved oxygen in the water which the fish rely on. Both low flows and high temperatures threaten fish species and this may be something the UK is more at risk of in coming years due to climate change. Some species benefit from the hot temperatures – people are calling this summer a ‘painted lady summer’. This butterfly is migratory, coming over from North Africa and uses the heatwaves and strong southerly winds to travel across Europe. Butterflies bask in the sunshine and love to drink the nectar of buddleia plants.
We would like to thank each and every volunteer who helped make this event possible. BioBlitz events are an important way of collecting real data to support conservation efforts, learning what species are thriving or struggling and monitoring the effects of climate change on wildlife. We hoped all our visitors enjoyed exploring the site and getting up close with the bugs and beasties!
