River Ouse Restoration Project at Sheffield Park

Our free art trail is now open to guide you across the parkland to the wooden bridges over the River Ouse. Inspired by the landscape around us, the trail has been created by local schools and artists using locally sourced materials.

As part of the project, our gardens team have constructed scrapes (or shallow flooded areas) to attract wading birds. We carefully selected damp and seasonally flooded sites to offer the best habitats, and have already been rewarded with the sighting of a Green Sandpiper. We are also excited to have seen a Skylark and Yellowhammers around the scrapes - both of which are RSPB red list birds of conservation concern. The wetlands are the ideal spot for bird lovers to enjoy a walk by the river- don’t forget to let us know on social media what you have spotted #sheffieldpark! Monitoring the bird populations here at Sheffield Park is really important, both for planning our management work and helping understand the status of bird species across the country. We are currently undertaking professional bird surveys in the area.

Visitors can now walk across the rope bridge over Irongates Lock onto the small island in the River Ouse. This is a new area for visitors to explore and to see the river from a different perspective.