Last night, after yet another day of heavy rain, I went to bed thinking that today would be a wash out and nobody would turn up for today’s Friends of Adel Woods event (I know that I tend to go on about the weather in these blog posts but, in my defence, we do live in the UK, and we have just dripped through the wettest Autumn, Winter and Spring for years).
It was therefore a bit of a shock when I drew the curtains this morning and it was a beautiful day with not a cloud in sight.
Even better, we had an excellent turn out of thirteen volunteers (including yours truly) for today’s work party: two for litter picking, one for a bit of litter picking and working on the moor; and another ten of us working exclusively on Adel Moor.
The litter pickers worked mainly around the area where houses on the Buckstone estate back on to Adel Woods, and around the children’s play area on Alwoodley Village Green. Fortunately, there wasn’t a huge amount of rubbish to pick up but they picked up a couple of bagfuls.
On Adel Moor we continued the work we have been doing for almost fifteen years – removing tree seedlings, young saplings and brambles – concentrating today, as on 21st April on the lower western end of the moor.
There is still a lot of work to do, but today the heather and bilberries were looking great. It is not easy to remember what the moor looked like in the early days of Friends of Adel Woods, and so here is a photograph of our treasurer, Stephanie, working on the moor on the 24th May 2011. It shows just how much our Parks and Countryside rangers, and Friends of Adel Woods and other groups have achieved over the years.
Our volunteers did an excellent job in very warm conditions and, once again, our trusty tree popper did excellent service in speeding up the removal of unwanted saplings.
Another really enjoyable morning and here are some of our happy volunteers!
ABOUT FRIENDS OF ADEL WOODS
Friends of Adel Woods were formed in 2009 to help maintain Adel Woods and encourage people to enjoy them. We meet one weekend morning a month to carry out various jobs or ”work parties”, and we also put on educational events. We are a very friendly group and welcome new members who want to help preserve our special woods, enjoy fresh air and exercise in the woods and make new friends. If you would like to take part in our activities, just come along to one of our work parties or get in touch by leaving a comment on this website.
Our next events
Next Thursday, the 30th May, we will be holding our Annual General Meeting. All are welcome, so if you would like to attend, please get in touch by leaving a comment on this website. The only pre-requisite for attending is that you care about Adel Woods and would like to help to maintain them.
- Our next work party will be on Sunday the 9th June when we will be litterpicking, and working on Adel Moor with Leeds City Council ranger, David Preston, from 10 am to 12 noon.
- Our next educational event will be on Sunday the 21st July from 2 to 4 pm, when our expert naturalist Steve Joul will be leading a stream and pond life safari.
Further details are given on our homepage and will be sent out via our mailing list.
Friends of Adel Woods 