Natural History in Barnsley
Caroline Hobart will be presenting; An Introduction to Fungi. This is timed nicely to help brush-up skills for the coming main fungi season and just before UK’s National Fungi Day on October 10th.
Details have been emailed to our group, already; if you feel you want to join please drop an email our way . This will be the first of our indoor meetings for the cooler darker months; for others please see our “Programme” page.
Please look through these dates occasionally for updates and changes; as some events are still being planned. If you want to lead a walk, do a talk or have a suggestion for an area to visit please drop an email to us. The limitations at some events that are due to restrictions imposed by the venues, these are for safety and security.
September 2026
Saturday 5th : Field Visit
Hoverflies and General Insects with Mark Dudley as our Lead
Rabbit Ings Country Park, Royston
Wednesday 23rd : Indoor Meeting
An Introduction to Fungi; Caroline Hobart is Presenting
October 2026
Saturday 10th : Field Visit
Fungi Foray with Doug Brown as our Lead
(venue to be confirmed)
Wednesday 21st : Indoor Meeting
The Masters of the Masquerade; Mark Dudley is our Speaker
Wednesday 28th : Venue Visit
Sheffield Museum Collection
(please note that there is a 12 person maximum at this venue. An alternative date is in the pipeline; probably March 2027)
November 2026
Wednesday 11th : Venue Visit
Manvers Recycling Plant
(please note that there is a 12 person maximum at this venue. An alternative date is in the pipeline)
Saturday 14th: Field Visit
Winter in the Park with Michele Winder as our Lead
Worsborough Country Park
Wednesday 25th : Indoor Meeting
Henry Seebohm -Ornithologist, Steelmaker and Traveller; Paul Hobson is our Speaker
December 2026
Saturday 12th : Field Visit
Elsecar Reservoir with Jill Hayler as our Lead
Wednesday 16th : Indoor Meeting
Barnsley Nats Christmas Social
Our light-hearted Christmas gathering
January 2027
Friday 1st : Field Visit
New Years Day Plant Hunt, with Mitch Greenhalgh as our Lead and partaking in the national
Botanical Survey of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) survey event
Saturday 9th : Field Visit
with Chris Tomson as our Lead
(venue to be confirmed)
Wednesday 20th : Indoor Meeting
AGM
& Learn About Nature Video
February 2027
Saturday 13th : Field Visit
Trees in Winter with Doug Brown as our Lead
(venue to be confirmed)
Saturday 20th :
South Yorkshire Study Day at Treeton Working Men’s Club
Wednesday 24th : Indoor Meeting
Members Evening, Sharing your Finds
March 2027
Saturday 13th : Field Visit
Agden General Natural History Walk, with Colin and Linda Graham as our Leads
Wednesday 24th : Indoor Meeting
Carboniferous Woodland Ecology in Barnsley (from 321 millions years ago), Rick Ramsdale is our Speaker
April 2027
Saturday 10th : Field Visit
Spring at Rabbit Ings with Michele Winder as our Lead
Saturday 14th : Field Visit
Birds, Birds, Birds; Spring Migration with Lesley Bassett as our lead
(venue to be confirmed)
May 2027
Saturday 1st : Field Visit
Barnsley Geo Walk with Rick Ramsdale as our Lead
Wednesday 19th : Field Visit
Spring Flowers at Wortley Hall with Jill Hayler as our Lead
June 2027
Saturday 12th : Field Visit
Coumes Brook, Barry Tylee as our Lead
Wednesday 23rd : Field Visit
Glowworms, Bats and Moths with Doug Brown as our Lead
Thursday 24th :
Moth Morning with Jill Hayler and Doug Brown
July 2027
Saturday 10th : Field Visit
Carlton Marsh Bio Blitz with Mark Dudley as our Lead
Wednesday 21st : Field Visit
(Leader Required)
August 2027
Saturday 14th : Field Visit
Hazelhead Reclamation Site with Trevor Mayne as our Lead
Wednesday 18th : Field Visit
(Leader Required)
As you can see, our programme carries on in September with a field visit and the first of our winter indoor meetings at Worsbrough Common Community Centre.
Join us for this presentation by Ron for our last over-winter indoor meeting of our 2025/2026 season. Ron is a very keen bird watcher and photographer who, in the past, has taken us on a photographic journey covering his and his wife’s travels around the world. We have some of Ron’s previous photos in the “Category”. section, many of which have been taken in the Barnsley area. Ron is also planning a Dawn Chorus walk for us later in the year. This will be an extrat to our summer programme
This presentation will start at 7pm and run for around 2 hours at the WorsbroughCommon Centre on Warren Quarry Lane.
We hope you can join us for the evening for this presentation by Chris Atkinson. Chris will take us on a journey through time on the fascinating history of our woodlands.
The venue details can be found on our “About Us” page. Or drop us an email at [email protected]
Our next indoor meeting is on Wednesday 19 November : Chris Tomson is giving an illustrated presentation on ‘Rivers, Waterways and Wetlands – a Natural History’.
Chris’ talks are always informative and enjoyable. And everyone is welcome, so do tell anyone that may be interested.
Wednesday 19 November, 7pm, at Worsbrough Common Community Centre, Warren Quarry Lane, Barnsley S70 4ND.
A special illustrated talk about watching Mars
The first Barnsley Nats indoor meeting this winter season is this coming Wednesday, with a special presentation about Mars —the planet.
Guy Gunson, from Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society (MSAS), is giving an illustrated talk on “Watching Mars”, a topic that he is enthusiastic about. It promises to be a really interesting evening.
It’s at 7pm at Worsbrough Common Community Centre (The Vera Mawby Centre) on Warren Quarry Road Barnsley S70 4ND. What3words: ///daring.medium.weds. Parking is available at the side of Warren Quarry Road, as well as limited parking in the Centre’s grounds.
Everyone is welcome for this fascinating subject. If you have friends interested in astronomy, then do invite them.
For those of you who wish to support Barnsley Nats by being a member, we are collecting subscriptions for the coming year. Printed Nats programmes –up to March– will be given out at the meeting. Of course, the programme is available on this website too. Just look under this post!
Our Barnsley Nats programme from September 2025 to March 2026 has now been published. Lots of interest!
Details of each meeting will be sent out by email about a week before each event. Make sure you’re on the email list!
Sorry for the late posting regarding our next indoor meeting.
This will take place this Wednesday (19th Feb) at Worsbrough Common Community Centre, on Warren Quarry Lane. Starting at 7pm and to finish at approx 9pm.
The presentation is by Jeff Lunn on his work on ‘The Garganey Trust’, which is close to the RSPB site Wombwell Ings, which we paid a visit to recently. While there we spotted thirty nine species of birds.
Jeff has done a few talks for us in the past and our regular members know these to be entertaining.
On Wednesday 22nd January, we can look forward to a talk on ‘Costa Rica by bike’ by Graham Shepherd, followed by our AGM: 7pm at Worsbrough Common Community Centre, Warren Quarry Lane, S70 4ND.
Wednesday, 18th December is our Nats Christmas Social when our members can enjoy a natural history quiz, music and time to get together and chat. If any of you has something of natural history interest to show and tell us about, there will be time for this too.
Worsbrough Common Community Centre, 7pm, Wednesday 18 December
Asian Hornet. Photo: Creative Commons (BY 2.0 UK) -Jean Haxaire
Our Barnsley Nats talk on Wednesday 20th November had Gordon Madden, secretary of Barnsley Beekeepers Association and a Barnsley Nats member, gave an illustrated presentation on ‘Bees, beekeeping and the Asian Hornet’.
Gordon had brought along various items of beekeeping equipment and his talk provoked a lot of interesting discussion.
A special meeting was held on Saturday 16 November at the Library@the Lightbox. Barnsley Nats hosted the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union (YNU) Annual General Meeting and naturalists gathered from most of the areas of Yorkshire.
As part of the event a Blue Plaque was unveiled by the Mayor of Barnsley opposite Barnsley Town Hall.
The photograph shows the Mayor, Mayoress and Young Mayor together with Linda Burgess, Chair of Barnsley Civic Trust, and Jeff Lunn, President of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union.
The blue plaque commemorates Thomas Lister, Quaker, Poet and Naturalist, who was Barnsley Postmaster on the site from 1839 to 1870. As well as being President of Barnsley Naturalist and Scientific Society for 20 years, he was a prominent member of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union. Thomas Lister attended the first YNU AGM held in Barnsley in 1884, 140 years ago! A good reason for welcoming the YNU back!
Before the blue plaque unveiling Peter Roberts gave a presentation covering highlights of the history of Barnsley Nats and the story of Thomas Lister: his bird reports in the Barnsley Chronicle and the stories of the Barnsley Nats’ Museum have been celebrated in Eldon Street Heritage Action Zone, not least by Simon Armitage, the Poet Laureate, and his band LYR.
In the afternoon, Jeff Lunn, 2024 YNU President, gave a stunning presentation with the title: ‘A Sense of Place, A Sense of Purpose’, covering his life in conservation and full of anecdote, humour and interest.
Interested in attracting butterflies and other pollinators to your garden? Hedgehogs and other wildlife too? Then this talk by Will Tomson was for you!
Will Tomson, a professional gardener and garden designer, gave an illustrated talk –Gardening for Wildlife– on Wednesday 23rd October. It was very interesting and informative, and provoked a great deal of discussion and question.
Our next indoor meeting is on Wednesday 20 March: Chris Tomson is giving a talk on Wildflower Meadows.
There are fewer traditional meadows today, affecting the numbers and diversity of insects and other wildlife. Chris has worked for many years with farmers on nature-friendly farming and we are looking forward to an informative and interesting presentation.
Wednesday 20 March, 7pm, at Worsbrough Common Community Centre, Warren Quarry Lane, Barnsley S70 4ND. Everyone welcome.
This will be our last indoor meeting until the Autumn; we look forward to seeing you there. During the summer we have our regular programme of field visits.