Dogs on our nature reserves and farmland policy

About Fox Hagg Nature Reserve

Fox Hagg is a patch of heathland and woodland, perched high on a hillside overlooking the Rivelin Valley, neighbouring Wyming Brook.

From its peace and quiet, looking out over the hills, you can see for miles over the Rivelin dams and the woods of Wyming Brook further up the valley. Fox Hagg’s own varied and dramatic scenery is as stunning as the view, with its patchwork of bilberry, bracken, heather, birch, scrub, woodland and moorland. This huge range of habitats attracts a wide variety of birds including linnets, meadow and tree pipits plus a number of warblers which flit between the scattered birch and the woodland edge.

Once managed as a holly hagg – when the soft spikeless upper leaves of holly were cut for winter fodder for sheep and cattle – Fox Hagg is now managed to maximise wildlife. Where once grazing sheep maintained the heathland, now small areas of scrub are cut on a five year cycle, and bracken is controlled to allow heather to grow. Remnants of holly can still be seen in the gulley around the stream called Allen Sike, and along the north edge of the nature reserve.

Thanks to ongoing conversations with the Duke of Norfolk and Sheffield Town Trust several years ago, an agreement was reached as part of the Trust’s ’Living Don’ vision to extend both Fox Hagg and neighbouring Wyming Brook connecting the two reserves. A new management plan for Fox Hagg nature reserve will be produced in 2018-2019.

Volunteer Work Days

Practical volunteer days are held on the first Tuesday of every month, and the third Sunday of every other month (January, March, May, July, September, November). Tasks vary from footpath improvements and access work, to habitat and vegetation management. Volunteer days start at 10am, meeting at the Redmires Road car park, and end at 3pm.

Gloves, tools, and refreshments are provided, but please wear suitable outdoor clothes and boots, and bring some lunch and drinking water if you’re able to join us for the whole day.

Find details for our next volunteer work day on our events page.

Find out more about volunteering with Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust.

Reserve Advisory Group meetings

Our Reserve Advisory Group (RAG) meetings for Wyming Brook and Fox Hagg are open to all members of the local community and users of these reserves to discuss upcoming management plans and raise any issues or concerns.

For further information about RAG meetings, please email us. An update from the previous meeting can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of this page.

Thank You

Together with our members and volunteers we take care of 15 nature reserves, including Fox Hagg, spanning almost 600 hectares, across Sheffield and Rotherham. These are places where you can enjoy nature and where our conservation work helps the wildlife you love to thrive.

Your donations make it possible for us to care for Fox Hagg nature reserve. Thank you!