Tonight we were tasked with inspecting the various types of fish passes on the weirs of the River Don for the Don Catchment Rivers Trust (DCRT). This is to make sure that fish are free to complete their migrations upstream unencumbered. The main species to make use of these are salmon, trout, and grayling, along with dace, chub, and barbel. The passes also help eels and other fish species navigate weirs that were previously impassable. The data and photographs we record are used by the DCRT to assess which passes need maintenance. Thankfully, on this occasion all of the passes we inspected were fully functioning with no obvious damage.

A fin-tastic time was had by all

We managed to survey three weirs- Lady's Bridge, Walk Mill, and Burton Weir- before running into a blocked section of path, which I thought, wrongly, that we would be able to negotiate. We did discover that this section was blooming with blackberries and rosehips, if any foragers are looking for a tip-off. The fenced-off section is absolutely thriving with no foot traffic passing through.

The following is the gathered inspection data for each of the passes. Lady's Bridge: Clear at top. Clear at bottom. Flowing freely. No damage visible or debris present. Walk Mill: Clear at top. Clear at bottom. Flowing freely. No damage visible or debris present. Burton Weir: Clear at top. Clear at bottom. Flowing freely. No damage visible or debris present.

After an uphill run to Heeley Green Community Garden, we marvelled at the view with a beautiful sunset and admired all the hard work the community group had put in since we visited last - a new mural was added over the pond, the flowers were in blossoms and the fruit trees - including a peach tree! - looked strong.

Our host Fran explained the task: a pesky and unruly border was encroaching over the path which was taken over by nettles and other weeds and a bush.

We then grabbed our spades, dug, scraped, uprooted and plugged branches through fences, putting on our head torches in the process. Ah the days are getting shorter!

In no time, the path had been litter picked by Michelle and Jono, while Rachel, Tim, Sergiu, Cat, Charly, Becca and Celine freed most of the path up.

What a gorgeous community project led by the local residents of Heeley Green!

It's suddenly starting to feel a bit autumnal in Sheffield! The debate was on this evening - jacket or no jacket. 6 of us set out through the station (always a fun cut through) and took the stairs up the side of the amphitheatre right to the top. We paused at the top for some incline press ups to take in the view as the sun went down across Sheffield. We popped into the Pearl at Park Hill on our way past for a nosy. Then we carried on to meet Simon at the Durham Ox. The pub has been closed for many years and right next to it is a section of cycle path that GoodGym Sheffield has been looking after for years. A developer has bought the building and it seems like Simon's plan to swap the cycle path over to the road side may be executed after all! This would mean a much more accessible section of cycle route but alas much less for us to do!

Did you know that the 'Durham Ox' was a giant Ox from Durham that did the rounds at a touring fair. There are many pubs named after this famous beast across the country.

Stage 1 of our task was litter picking - the biggest haul being a two seater sofa. Stage 2 was lopping and sweeping. After a decent stint, with the light fading, we thanked Simon and headed over to Park Hill, much to Tarj's delight. At the foot of the hill was split into pairs to do a hill sprint / circuit / relay that had us all breathing hard and (hopefully) smiling. All warmed up we ran back down the hill and to the Showroom. The evenings are getting darker which means headtorch season is coming. Thanks for a great evening team!