​Foraging walk on Manor Fields Park

For her first time leading a walk Kim took about 15 of us on a foraging tour of the park and surrounding area, supported by Wes and Diane.
Before we started Kim took us through the responsible foraging guidelines: Foraging Guidelines - Woodland Trust:

• Minimise damage 
• Seek permission
• Know what you're picking
• Only collect from plentiful populations
• Leave plenty behind
• Do not collect rare species

We picked blackberries as we walked through the middle of the park and apples from an area close to the cemetery, then took a short walk to a nearby pocket park which is home to several fruit trees including cherry, hazel and apple.
As well as the usual fruits to pick we also founds out about edible herbs and wildflowers, plants which most of us walk past all the time without noticing.
Kim is hoping to do more foraging walks around the year, when different fruits are in season.  You’re welcome to forage in the park at any time but please follow the guidelines above and most of all STAY SAFE.

Massive thank you to Kim for leading the walk and to Diane and Wes for supporting. Thank you to Lisa for writing this blog and taking the photos, and to the whole Friends of Manor Fields Park group for their ongoing support of the park!

There are some great foraging resources online, here are a few to get you started:

Woodland Trust Month by Month Foraging Guide
​Wild Food UK website 
Eat Weeds Foraging Guide / Website

​We had lovely weather and a good turn out for the guided local history walk on Sunday. Around 20 people turned up for the first walk we have done about the local history of the Manor.
 
It was also a chance for the Friends of Manor Fields Park and Friends of Manor Lodge groups to collaborate, alongside support from Green Estate staff. Many thanks to everyone involved!
 
We started at the York House carpark with the most recent history; the creation of the park starting in 1999.  You can view a short video of the transformation here: Manor Fields Park - Green flag Award 2015/16 (Sheffield) - YouTube.
 
Moving clockwise our next stop was the allotments. Allotments covered a large portion of the park in the last century. The first ground was broken in 1930 with plots rented to unemployed men (it was mostly men) to help them feed their families. They then played an important role on Dig for Victory in the 1940s. In more recent times the allotments have been separated from the park but you can still find clues that they were here, such as the large patches of comfrey which make excellent fertiliser.
 
The book I mentioned on the walk was: A History of Allotments in Sheffield : Boulton, Margaret: Amazon.co.uk: Books
 
You can find out what’s happening on the allotments these days on friends of manor allotments - sheffield - Search Results | Facebook
 
Next, we walked to the edge of cemetery which has seven listed structures:
 

• The Gatehouse
• The Crematorium and chapel
• The Catholic Chapel
• The Harwich Road gate and gatehouse
• Belgian War Memorial
• The Blitz grave
• War Memorial by Sir R Blomfield

 
As well as other notable graves including Commonwealth War Graves.
 
This was also an opportunity to talk about the SUDS scheme, which was the subject of a previous walk: SUDS Walk - Sustainable drainage in Manor Fields Park. Although the theme of this was history, the park itself is still developing. In the next year we will see further developments of the scheme in the form of a new nature pond near the cemetery, a new seating area and planting in keeping with the current natural surroundings.
 
We then walked out of the park and over Manor Lane to our sister site Sheffield Manor Lodge. Here we were given a historic tour of the ruins and gardens by volunteer Chris, a member of Friends of Sheffield Manor Lodge. She opened our eyes to the history of the site as the grand castle on the hill, home and prison to feisty royals and site of Sheffield’s first toilet! We would highly recommend booking on a guided tour and going to Manor Lodge on Sundays – when it is freely open to the public. For details, check their website.
 
Walking back through Manor Fields Park we stopped at the “Carrot Tops” sculptures, this is an excellent place to appreciate the thought that went into the design of the park -  the arena (one of three flat loan areas designed for play and more formal activities) doubles up as a flood defence and beyond it the wild areas. It’s also a place to observe the history of Sheffield, from this path you can look from the modern (Meadowhall), industrial Sheffield through to the Lodge and imagine how different the skyline would have been when the Lodge was still standing.
 
The walked finished at the pond, the whole area was once known as Deep Pit and the name has stuck in this corner of the park. The name comes from the area’s mining history, this was the site of Deep Pits Colliery. In the 1800s a number of collieries existed in this part of the city and would have been a large employer for residents.
 
If you’d like to read more about the history of the park, including displays created as part of a University project, click here: History (manorfieldspark.org)
 
Cheeryho!
 
Lisa (Friends of Manor Fields Park) and Jayne (Green Estate)
  

Yesterday we were lucky to welcome Roger Nowell to the park for a lively and informative tour of the SUDS (Sustainable drainage system) scheme.

Roger works for Sheffield City Council in Flood and Water management. He also previously worked for 10 years on Manor Fields Park and was central to it's development. So, he knows his stuff and we are very grateful for his time.

We learnt about the existing SUDS system on the park - a system of ditches, swales and pipework that allows water to run off from the surrounding housing estates and be steadily directed into the river system. This prevents it all crashing into the sewer system at once, which is far less sustainable and can lead to flooding.  Instead, the water is collected and directed slowly into the river system, greatly reducing the risk of flooding -  particularly in the event of a serious weather event - a "100 year storm"

The soil in the ditches acts as a filter system, so polluted water run-off from roads, for example, is cleaned naturally before finding the water ways. In addition, the system creates natural features for the park - that look great for people to enjoy, and also create additional habitat. It's a win for everyone!

This system is at the forefront of sustainable flood management - in the country! It is a national example of good practice and we are really rather chuffed to be home to it.

We also looked at the site were the scheme is going to be extended, creating a new water collection basin in the park. This will be built near the Cemetery entrance to the park, and work will commence soon. This project is about increasing the water holding capacity of the system, due to the building of new houses nearby. The new housing estate will increase water run-off, adding burden to the waterways. By extending the drainage system in the park, the impact will be reduced overall. 

The works in the park will also include new and improved landscaping around the basin - with new planting and features for people to enjoy. It will create wetland habitat also, great for wildlife. Finally, a more accessible path will be built to run through the park. 

Overall, a great little walk. It was really interesting to meet the friendly locals and interested professionals who came along. It's always amazing to hear the local knowledge of people in this area. Many thanks to all who came out, despite the onslaught from storm Dudley!

We had a great turn out for the first nature walk on the park this year - a bird walk in honour of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch!

Many thanks to local experts Chris, Helen and John for volunteering their time and knowledge to lead the walk and help us identify the birds we saw.

With the sun shining down on us and the sound of bird song filling the air, we set off with great optimism.

We took an hour to walk around the park, identifying and counting the birds we saw. Manor Fields Park is managed as an 'urban nature park'. There are many areas of bramble, scrub, hedges and trees, as well as the pond and stream. Together, this provides a mass of natural habitat that can comfortably house a wide range and number of birds, and all just 2 miles from Sheffield City centre.

Over the hour the group observed 20 different species of birds! Well done everyone and thank you for taking part

Up next...
For the next walk we will look at the SUDS scheme that runs through the park and explain the interesting developments planned for it's expansion over the coming year. What's SUDS?! - That's Sustainable Drainage Systems! This walk will be on Wednesday 16th February, keep an eye out for details coming soon.