Wyming Brook Nature Reserve
OS Grid reference- SK 271 863
Once part of the hunting and hawking grounds of Rivelin Chase, Wyming Brook Nature Reserve's babbling streams and mossy crags are now a valuable home to wildlife.
A winner of the prestigious Green Flag award, the stuniing wooded gorge is situated on the western edge of Sheffield and consists of a very popular wood, glen and moor with well marked paths for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.
The reserve offers easy strolls by the streams or higher,more demanding routes which provide dramatic views of the Rivelin Reservoirs and the city of Sheffield beyond.
Part of the Eastern Moors Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), there is an abundance of wild flowers at the nature reserve, including common lutestring and northern spinach. The native deciduous woodlands and planted conifers support a diverse population of birdlife, from pine seed eating crossbills to the brown and white dipper which forages for aquatic insects along the boulder strewn, fast flowing streams. Goshawk, linnet and meadow pipit, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Long-tailed Tits and other woodland species can also be seen. The viviparous lizard can be found the dry heathland.
The Wyming Brook finds its source in Redmires Reservoirs near the Hallam Moors. It flows for over a kilometre down quite steep terrain into the lower of the Rivelin Dams. The river flows almost its entire length within the Wyming Brook Nature Reserve. The surrounds are wooded near the bottom and more open near the top, with stunning views of the Rivelin Valley and beyond.
In medieval times the Rivelin valley was part of a large tract of land set aside by the Lords of Hallamshire as a private forest for deer hunting. It was known as Rivelin Chase or Firth and covered thousands of acres on the western upland outskirts of Sheffield. 'The chace of Rivelin' was first recorded in 1383.