INVERTEBRATES
In spring, butterflies such as the Orange-tip, Green- veined White, Comma, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock, can be found in both the woodlands and open habitats of the Gleadless Valley. Later in the summer, butterflies generally become less evident in the woodlands themselves, being instead more restricted to open habitats and woodland glades. An exception to this is the Speckled Wood butterfly, which can occasionally be seen in areas of dappled sunlight in the woods and shrub areas.

Invertebrates in the Meers Brook and its tributary streams include fresh water shrimps and the young stages of caddis fly, stonefly and mayfly.

BIRDS
The Gleadless Valley's wide range of habitats attracts a rich bird fauna for an urban area. The woodlands and areas of mixed shrub and grassland habitat, such as that found at Nether Spring, are particularly rich.

Birds breeding in the woodlands include Great-spotted Woodpecker, Sparrowhawk, Jay, Tawny Owl, Long-tailed Tit, Treecreeper and Nuthatch. Summer songbird visitors, including Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler, breed in woodland areas with a dense shrub layer, at woodland edges and in shrub thickets.

Other bird species recorded in the valley have included Cuckoo, Green Woodpecker, Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, Woodcock, Snipe, Redstart, Willow Tit and Grasshopper Warbler.

MAMMALS
Squirrels, Bats, Stoats, Weasels and Foxes live within the woods and other greenspaces in the Gleadless Valley. Badger was present in the 1960's but is now either very rare or extinct, probably as a result of a combination of persecution and disturbance.

MORE INFORMATION
More general information on the birds and animals of the Heritage Woodlands is available elsewhere on this website.