Over the course of the summer Sheffield has been visited by lions. Lots of lions. A whole pride of them. 300 lions, to be acurate.

Thankfully these are not escapees from a nearby zoo, but are part of a sculpture project organised to benefit the local children’s hospital, and the third such project in a decade (the first was The Herd of Sheffield, featuring elephants back in 2016, then we were visited by The Bears of Sheffield in 2021). This time we have The Pride of Yorkshire, featuring the aformentioned Lions.

In each of the three events, all the sculptures are each individually decorated and there are trails to be followed to discover them (all of them, should you be dedicated enough!). When they conclude, all the animals are auctioned off, raising money for the hospital charity. While the elephants and bears are not stood in public places any longer, it’s still quite easy to find many of them dotted around the city in their new adopted homes provided by the auction bidders, so it’s not unusual to see one stood in a shop, or atop the roof of a factory or something.

Here’s one of the lionesses stood in Tudor Square, but there are Lions and cubs to be found too. I’ve not photographed many of them (I had an idea about doing a project, but never got around to it), but another may appear on here at some point…

Nikon F80 & Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 ED VR on Fujifilm Acros II. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 15 August 2026.