Sunday at Bill's Mother's: 15th September 2024
There's a nip in the air. Changing seasons photos from Andy Deighton, heads down for drainspotting, #stillacyclist thoughts from Emily Chappell, and hello again River Sheaf.
Morning. A celebration of the changing seasons with ace photographer Andy Deighton of Sheffield Bird Study Group today. (Check the group’s recent sightings page for surprising European birds arriving on their restless wanderings).
Also, the River Sheaf’s first view of the city centre in 100 years, a heads up for a heads down walk, and wise words from cycling writer and adventurer Emily Chappell that we should all take to heart. Plus some long awaited news for city cyclists.
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Take Me To The Rivercam
The Sheaf is now open, after being hidden away in 1917 to provide a home for the city’s markets. As covered here a few weeks ago, the Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust have worked with the council and other agencies on the Putting the Sheaf back into Sheffield project to reveal the city’s namesake river as part of the new city park at Castlegate. See the trust’s River Sheaf culvert camera for regular updates.
The photo above shows the welcome window cut away over the last fortnight, from the point of view of the river, above the weir leading to the Don confluence a few yards away.
Last week also saw the 10,000th underground river visitor on the trust’s wildly popular Urban Caving expeditions. Happy tourist Jane Revill was handed a box of beer from trust supporters Triple Point Brewery to celebrate. The tours continue until the end of September.
Season of Misseds and Hello Phalaropes
Have you seen an Osprey or Great White Egret over Sheffield?
Birders watch the skies (and avian social media) for movements this month, as they don’t want to miss rare birds passing through as they head for their winter pastures (or mudbanks).
The city’s lakes (at Redmires, Orgreave, Langsett and Catcliffe, for example) are migratory service stations for birds following rivers like the Don or Rother, or gaps in the Pennines heading to their winter territories.
Listen out, in the morning especially, for huge flocks of geese passing over the city, and watch for mystery gulls: keen birders know the difference and will head straight out to try and spot rare Sabine’s or Caspian Gulls among the more common BHGs (as they often call the ubiquitous Black-headed Gull). Recent local sightings include an Arctic Tern, Eurasian Spoonbill and Red-necked Phalarope.
It’s also a season of spying long term movements: damselflies from southern Europe moving north for the duration, for example. And a time to look for deer.
Red Deer on the city’s western moors are starting their noisy rutting season, and the inner city Roe Deer (usually hiding quietly in some surprising woods and green spaces) are finishing their own rut, but might still be seen by sharp eyed explorers.
Thanks to Andy Deighton for all these brilliant photos. You don’t know what you might see in September, until you look.
Drainspotting
Sheffield’s Walking Festival ends on Sunday but there’s still plenty to see and do. The South Yorkshire Combined Authority have their own SouthYorksWalks initiative this weekend, where they suggest you seek out your local walking groups and tag everything that moves with #SouthYorksWalks.
And try not to miss the famous Drainspotting walk today (Sunday 15th). Led by Calvin Payne from the Hidden Sheffield Walks walking tour operation, you’ll learn about street features we overlook and overstep.
Calvin wants us to know our city’s rich history is all around (and under) us on every walk we take. The innocuous Sheffield Local Board drain covers, for example, which he believes date to the mid 19th century, after the early cholera outbreaks in 1832 and 1849. Calvin has found quite a few of these drain covers around the city so far, but reckons there are a dozen or so left to discover.
The drains may provide evidence that Sheffield was a civic pioneer against cholera. Calvin reckons the city health board leaders may have, perhaps inadvertently, done the right thing before scientists properly identified the transmission route of the terrible disease, through human effluent, rather than via the Ancient Greek Miasma Theory, the airborne transmission of disease through bad or night air.
By building a city drainage system and covering over the sources of cholera, could Sheffield take credit for the first practical actions to curb a disease that killed over two million people in the nineteenth century? The answer may lie under our feet.
Still A Cyclist (Or Runner / Walker / Climber / Skateboarder etc.)
Cycling writer and adventurer Emily Chappell has made Sheffield her home after years of mega ultra rides across Europe and the world. She’s written books about life as a London cycle courier and her victory in the 4,000 km Transcontinental cycle race.
She also runs a Substack journal, where last week she wrote rather wonderfully about how an athlete can keep enjoying their chosen pursuit as they get older, or held up by normal human stuff like pregnancy, childcare, injury, illness or whatnot. It went down rather well. On her Instagram page she added:
Thank you so much to everyone who’s #stillacyclist and who’s been posting about their completely average, non-epic, unremarkable rides.
Because of your inspiration I went for a ride today when I wouldn’t normally have bothered. I only had an hour, and I’d have to ride gently because of my lungs, and on any other day I’d have decided it wasn’t worth going out.
But I’m still a cyclist, so I put my lycra on anyway, and I had the loveliest 45-minute spin, up a hill (this is Sheffield after all), and along some lovely bike paths.
I paid a visit to Iron Henry (aka Sheffield’s most handsome bike stand), and I got to see what some of my favourite trees have been up to. (The leaves are just starting to turn, but most of them are still attached.)
I didn’t race anyone, or record the ride on Strava, or even sweat that much, but I got back feeling cheerful, energised and very very glad I’d made the time. Thanks again to everyone who responded to yesterday’s post, and reminded me that there’s so much more to cycling than progress and achievements.
#stillacyclist
I meet elder runners and climbers and walkers and bike riders who’ve eventually realised that times and targets don’t always matter. All you really need to do is remember the fun you had when you originally took up that particular endeavour years ago. #stillarunner #stillawalker #stillaskateboarder
What’s On Out There (from Sunday 15th September)
A tiny selection from our regularly updated What’s On Out There in September news and listings post.
Sun 15th Sept - The famed Drainspotting Walk (SWF - Sheffield's Victorian pavement features)
Sun 15th - Liz Hanks ‘Land’ - A Musical Audio Walk (SWF)
Mon 16th - Friends of Whirlow Brook Park Volunteer Session
Tues 17th - Sheffield Ramblers Walk - Beeley Woods and Wharncliffe (7m - public transport from city centre)
Weds 18th - Sheffield Ramblers Walk - Edale & Hollins Cross (10.5m - public transport from city centre)
19-29th Sept - Festival of The Mind (FOTM below).
Fri 20th - Stories From The Soils (Wardsend Cemetery talk - FOTM)
And Finally, for City Centre Cyclists ...
I hear the city centre secure cycle hub will be open by early October. I’ll have more on this soon. Further information on the facility for bikes, e-bikes and cargo bikes here.
Thanks for reading. And remember: FFS! Forward to Friends, and Subscribe!
Declaring an interest before commenting: I met Calvin on his Drainspotting walk for Heritage Open Days in 2022 and will be backstopping this afternoon’s walk. (Do say hi if you are coming along.).
I think it is at least possible that the city authorities were aware of Dr John Snow’s controversial theory that cholera was carried by water and the disease spread via infected drinking water. It was Snow who analysed a cholera outbreak in London proving to his own satisfaction that the all but one of the cases had a direct link to water drawn from an infected supply. The authorities were less convinced and he was subject to professional disciplinary proceedings for his pains ( and made to put the handle back on the pump where the infected water was drawn from). This incident is quite well known, but what is less well known is that Snow, although he became an eminent physician, came from a very poor background and grew up on the unbanked riverside in York. It seems to me unlikely that his theory about disease emerged simply from his London experiences and I have previously wondered whether he shared his views with selected open minded contacts in his native Yorkshire.
Thank David, as always, and thanks to Andy for his super photos!
We had a damselfly at our pond the other day, and I got hilariously excited 😆. It landed on some stones at the side and curled itself up and touched a gap in the stones with its tail (?) (bottom?). I don’t know if it was laying eggs or something, or maybe just casing the joint for future reference. (Insect-specialist I am not!)