When you take a stroll through the Peak District, there are some wildlife encounters you expect.
Hares, deer, mice, bats, and dozens of British birds have all made their homes in the north west national park.
But, at least until fairly recently, it wasn’t uncommon to stumble upon an altogether less expected beast – a wild wallaby.
These hopping little macropods, a smaller relative of the kangaroo, used to be seen bouncing around the Peak District.
Although their native home is on the eastern coast of Australia and Tasmania, a small group of Bennett’s wallabies successfully bred and survived in Staffordshire.
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Credit: Nicholson Museum
But how on earth did they end up here, half a planet away from their natural habitat?
In 1936 a local landowner, Henry Brocklehurst, introduced five wallabies as part of his private zoo collection.
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The creatures were deliberately released during World War Two, along with three Himalayan yak.
Against the odds, the wallabies thrived.
At the peak of their existence here in the north west, there were around 50 in the colony, though one particularly bleak winter in 1963 is understood to have halved their population (one local recalled seeing ‘several bodies as the snowdrifts melted’).
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The Roaches. Credit: Unsplash, Nirmal Rajendharkumar
In the Facebook group Roaches Appreciation Society, Clare said: “I saw one at the Roaches skyline in the early ‘90s. It sat watching us climbing with its head poking out of the bracken. Then it bounded off. Much to the bemusement of my King Charles spaniel.”
By the 2000s, most locals believed there were only two wallabies left – a mother and daughter, both white-faced.
The most recent confirmed sighting was back in 2009, with undeniable footage showing one of the wallabies bounding through the heather near The Roaches.
Sadly, it’s thought that the snowy weather in the winter of 2010 may have finally pushed the colony into extinction.
Extreme snow in 2010 may have ended the wallabies’ roam at The Roaches. Credit: Unsplash, ian kelsall
There have been plenty more submissions of sightings – though none with photos or videos – in the years since, all listed here.
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Another sighting was in 2017 near the Wild Boar Inn in Wincle, where one person shared a photo of a ‘creature’ that they were ‘fairly certain’ was a wallaby.
When the Financial Times mentioned that sighting to Dr Anthony Caravaggi, a lecturer in conservation biology at the University of South Wales, he replied: “I have no doubt in my mind that that one was a cat.”
Dr Caravaggi published a paper on red-necked wallabies in the UK, which recorded 95 verified sightings in the 10 years leading up to 2018. He’s pretty certain the Peak District wallaby colony is extinct.
A leading expert in the field, who sadly died in 2013, was Dr Derek Yalden.
He found droppings in 2009, but nothing since.
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He wrote in a letter to Roaches.org.uk: “I think they ran out of decent food. However, accidental deaths, on the roads, falling over cliffs and (especially in 1962-63 and 1979) severe winters also took a toll.
“Why should a wallaby venture onto the roads, or jump over a cliff? Probably because a certain section of the public seemed to respond to a sighting with “let’s chase it”, or their dog did.
“They always were very timid, and I watched them panic both to thunder and to the terrifying sight of a sheep arriving.”
There is one place to get a guaranteed wallaby sighting, but don’t expect much in the way of hopping.
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The Nicholson Museum in Leek has stuffed Wally, a male who is believed to have died when he fell into the Lud’s Church cavern.
If you did want to head out exploring for your own wallaby sighting, you can head to The Roaches, a stunning gritstone ridge overlooking Leek.
For those who do visit, remember to stick to the footpaths, take litter home, and respect the rules laid out locally.
A masterclass in The Art of Loving: Olivia Dean brings two unforgettable nights to Co-op Live
Emily Johnson
Olivia Dean took over Co-op Live for not one, but two nights this weekend – and what she delivered felt like a full-circle celebration of The Art of Loving, her incredible sophomore album.
From the moment Olivia’s silhouette appeared behind the curtain on night two, opening with the album’s title track, it was clear this evening was going to be special.
With a sea of polka dots on arrival, it’s evident that the 27-year-old already has great influence when it comes to style with her fans, and you could spot anyone who was attending Olivia Dean around Manchester city centre immediately.
Despite performing to a crowd of over 20,000 people, the performance felt incredibly intimate, with interactions with the crowd through the evening, even pointing out a fan’s banner saying they had been a fan of Olivia since 2019, which she was humbly taken aback by.
Her voice carried effortlessly around the arena, somehow still managing to feel soft and personal, like she was singing directly to you.
No Dean show would be complete without her incredible outfits either, and last night we were truly spoilt, with two outfit changes throughout the evening, which split the night into three chapters.
Initially appearing in a black sequin number, before reappearing in the middle of the crowd in an all-white outfit, evocative of an angel – a moment that felt intimate even in a room that size.
Later, with disco balls lowered and the energy lifted, she returned in another glitzy look for the more upbeat tracks, including a crowd-pleasing cover of ‘Move On Up’. With her band behind her, the sound filled the arena beautifully.
Everyone was on their feet having a good time, but no one was having as much fun as the woman herself, Olivia Dean.
And that’s the thing with Miss Dean, no one at her gigs is having half as much fun as she is. She’s always smiling, always glowing.
Put simply, she’s a proper ray of sunshine on stage. Towards the end of the show, Olivia looked up at the crowd and stated, “It’s magic in here tonight, Manchester”, and we all believed her.
Looking around at the crowd, arms around each other, best friends, couples – it was hard not to feel the magic too.
Highlights included ‘UFO’ with a sea of lights, which in the moment gave the whole room goosebumps, and of course, the confetti cannon, which was the grand finale to an incredible evening.
Yungblud channels a bit of magic that’d make Ozzy proud on huge headline night in Manchester
Lonnie Bowes
A darkened arena erupts into life as Yungblud storms the AO Arena main stage for his biggest Manchester show to date.
He flickers across the giant screens, projected against a curtain that stretches the full width of the AO Arena. Then that unmistakable Doncaster drawl cuts through the noise, urging the audience to make some noise (even more of it), and they oblige – gladly.
When the lights come up, a barrage of lights flickers, pyrotechnics explode, and chaos ensues. Manchester crowds are no strangers to Yungblud; he’s a livewire performer with seemingly endless energy, a proclivity for raw emotion, and a fiercely loyal fanbase: the self-proclaimed ‘Black Hearts Club’.
Dressed in a grungy pair of Chrome Hearts leather trousers, a leopard-print waistcoat and sunglasses so thick he could look directly at the sun with no issues, he tears straight into the opening track (Hello Heaven, Hello) with barely a second to breathe.
He then pauses – hands extended to the crowd, a cheeky grin – and bang: confetti fills the room.
If previous Manchester shows hinted at his stamina, this one confirms it. The scale may be bigger, but the intensity hasn’t dipped. The floor quickly becomes a sea of movement, with mosh pits swelling and collapsing in waves, sending bodies ricocheting across the arena.
It’s the kind of gig where you’re never quite safe from getting drenched either – water cups are less for drinking and more for launching, with sprays arcing out over the front rows like some kind of punk rock baptism of fire. So many flames.
The audience was on the ball; at one point, Yungblud’s comb was hurled into the crowd. Showgoers in the area tussled over the item for a minute before returning to the mayhem unfolding around them.
Part conductor, part chaos agent, part mic-wielding cowboy, he commands the room with ease. The mic stand, placed in front of him between each song by the production team, is repeatedly cast to the back of the stage, and he flails the mic above his head on more than one occasion – always catching it again before it can strike anyone else. It’s reckless, but never careless.
Because beneath the sweat and noise, there’s something more deliberate at play. His speeches on identity, equality, belonging and mental health feel less like interludes and more like the backbone of the entire night.
This isn’t just performance: it’s a space he’s actively shaping, one where thousands feel seen. Towards the back end of the set, he invites the whole crowd to look left and right and tell each other how much they f***ing love one another.
Tracks like ‘Loner’, ‘Lowlife’ and ‘Zombie’ land with particular weight, their messages amplified by a crowd that knows every word. At one point, the lights swing out over the audience, and for a moment the focus shifts – not just to the performer, but to the community he’s built.
With a touching tribute to the late, great Ozzy Osbourne, Yungblud is visibly emotional, with tears in his eyes for his dearly departed friend. And if the ringing in my ears is anything to go by, I’m pretty sure Ozzy heard it and was looking down with pride.
If you haven’t guessed by now, Yungblud knows how to command a room, but things definitely took a turn when he invited a member of the crowd on stage.
Holding a poster that read something along the lines of “I can play guitar”, she was brought up and proceeded to absolutely bring the house down, performing alongside him for a song. Daisy, hats off – you absolutely SMASHED it.
Congratulations are in order as well to the happy couple who got engaged at the gig. We really hope your first dance is to a Yungblud track.
Even in a venue of this size, he moves like he’s trying to outpace it; sprinting, leaping, barely standing still long enough to catch a breath. It’s hard not to feel like this is still just a stepping stone. Because if he can command a room like this with such force, it’s not a stretch to imagine Yungblud scaling even bigger stages before long.
Loud, relentless and emotionally charged, this wasn’t just a gig, it was a statement – a place to escape the struggles of day-to-day life and bolster an ever-growing community built on all the right things: acceptance, harmony, and just a little bit of chaos. In short, he’s welcome back anytime.
Daisy Jackson -
28th January 2022 
