Birds of Prey

I've been filming in the Peak District where National Park bosses have admitted that an scheme designed to boost the number of birds of prey is failing. Peregrines - for example - have failed to breed successfully in the Dark Peak area for the first time in more than thirty years. It's led the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to pull out of the Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative.



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Women's Rugby

I had a great night filming one of the friendliest sports team I've ever worked with, Rotherham Ladies Rugby Club. Numbers of girls and women playing rugby union is on the rise in Yorkshire. Obviously, I had to have a go at kicking for the posts!

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Bikes Vandalised

Perhaps it was inevitable that I'd be doing a follow-up story on Sheffield's hire bikes being treated badly. Police have said they will refuse to collect any more of the city's new shared Ofo bikes which have been dumped and vandalised. Manor and Arbourthorne Neighbourhood Police Team said on Facebook: "Bike shepherding isn't in our job description." Here's my live and report on Look North.

And this is my report for our lunch bulletin.

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Bike Sharing

I've been reporting on the new bike share scheme in Sheffield. Despite being one of the most hilly cities in the country a thousand bikes are being parked around the city for people to hire via their smartphones. I had to have a go at riding one of them up one of the steepest hills in the city!



I tweeted my attempt to cycle up the ridiculously steep Jenkin Road and it went viral!

#Sheffield is 1 of hilliest cities in UK but 1st in the North to have @ofo_bicycle's dockless bike loan scheme. Can the bikes be ridden up ridiculously steep Jenkin Road? @BBCLookNorth pic.twitter.com/jwwTO5wWQL

— Mark Ansell (@MarkAnsell) January 9, 2018

And here's my as live for our lunch bulletin where I tried to ask challenging questions while at the same time having some fun with the story.


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Hathersage Lido

I've been to Hathersage open air swimming pool to film a story on the fact that it's opening all year round for the first time in its 82 year history. I really enjoyed filming this, meeting the swimmers who were very enthusiastic about cold water swimming. I also found looking through photos of the lido from the 1930s particularly enjoyable and decided to start my report with them. The staff their helped too - particularly with filming my piece to camera. I used a second camera - a GoPro - to film this shot from a different angle and I think it really adds to the piece. Obviously I had to have a swim in the pool, despite it being zero degrees outside!



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Foodhall

I've been to film a story on a pay as you feel café that's been set up in Sheffield with the aim of tackling hunger, food waste and social isolation. Unsold food that local supermarkets no longer want is passed on to the team at Foodhall where volunteers prepare lunch and people dine communally.



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Crystal Bar Stabbings

I've been reporting at a bar in Sheffield city centre which has been temporarily closed by the police this week after five men suffered stab wounds following an altercation in the early hours of New Year's Day.



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Latin

I've been to the only state school in Sheffield that offers the study of Latin where they've started a crowdfunding campaign to save the subject. Spending cuts and changes to the national curriculum mean that Classical Civilisation and Latin are under threat at High Storrs School. They need to raise a hundred thousand pounds to be able to keep teaching the subjects.

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