Thursday, 30th May 2024: the Friends of Adel Woods Annual General meeting
The meeting will take place at 7.30 pm in Alwoodley on 30th May 2024. The agenda and the minutes of the meeting in May 2023 have been sent out to everyone on our mailing list. If you would like to attend, please get in touch by leaving a comment on this website.
Saturday, 25th May 2024: litterpicking and working on Adel Moor
Today we will be working from 10 am to 12 noon, litterpicking and working on Adel Moor. We will meet at the Slabbering Baby entrance to the woods on Buckstone Road at 9.55 am. There is a map showing the meeting point below.
We will be supplying litterpickers, tools and gloves. Please wear sturdy footwear – we will be working on muddy and uneven ground.
Sunday 21st July 2024: a pond and stream life safari with Steve Joul
This event will take place from 2 pm to 4 pm. It will be excellent for children provided that they are accompanied by a responsible adult. Assistance dogs only please. Further details will be provided in due course. The event is free but we will welcome voluntary donations to our funds.
In the meantime ….
Please browse through our blog posts to find out what Friends of Adel Woods have been doing – all the way back to August 2009! Here are links to our recent bat walk and a recent work party.
Calling for new volunteers
Friends of Adel Woods are a very friendly and relaxed group. The emphasis is on enjoying our activities – which definitely means taking the time to enjoy the scenery, and having a chat with our fellow volunteers!
We are always pleased to welcome new volunteers, so if you would like to help maintain Adel Woods, make new friends, and get some fresh air and exercise, please get in touch!
A note on Covid 19
Covid 19 is still out there. Please do not join us if
- you have symptoms of corona virus
- you have received a positive test, even if you have no symptoms
- you have been advised to self-isolate
- you have been in contact with someone with covid symptoms or who has been advised to self-isolate.
Our new tree popper
We are delighted to announce that on 2nd November 2023 we took delivery of our very own Tree Popper – a tool which is incredibly useful for removing small saplings with a trunk size up to about 2.5 centimetres.
The funding for the purchase of the tree popper was provided by a grant from Alwoodley Parish Council, for which we are very grateful. Thank you Alwoodley!
Bracken pulling Wednesdays on Adel Moor
On the 5th, 12th and 19th July Barbara led three very successful mornings of bracken pulling on Adel Moor, having led three similar mornings in August 2022. If you don’t know where Adel Moor is, you may be surprised to discover that it is just behind the Buckstone Estate – and yes! it is a genuine bit of heathland right here in Alwoodley!
It is a special habitat of heathland plants like bilberry, heather and gorse, and associated insects like the green hairstreak butterfly. It is also home to a population of common lizards. We recently spotted two lizards when working on Adel Moor on the 4th June.
Unfortunately, the moor is under threat from invading bracken and saplings, and without a helping hand it will eventually disappear. It is also under threat from dog faeces, as can be seen by the grass on either side of the paths, so if you walk your dog across Adel Moor, please do not let it loose on the Moor and please bag your dog’s calling card and bin it at home.
Over the last 14 years Friends of Adel Woods, Leeds City Council Rangers and other groups have done a lot of work to remove bracken and saplings. Fortunately, it is a lovely place to do some conservation work, and working on Adel Moor is a firm favourite with our members!
Thursday, 25th May 2023: Annual General Meeting
Our Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday, 25th May. We had a successful meeting. All the existing committee members and officers are continuing in their roles, and one more person joined the committee bringing the number of committee members up to nine. More details can be found here AGM
A birdsong walk with Steve Joul on Sunday the 14th May 2023
On Sunday the 14th May, Steve Joul, a committee member of FOAW, and former senior ranger with Leeds City Council, led a very interesting birdsong walk in Adel Woods. We saw or heard 19 species of birds and even saw Jays and a woodpigeon on their respective nests! To find out more, have a look at our blog entry Birdsong Walk
A Fantastic Fungal Foray on Saturday the 12th November 2022
Wonderful weather meant we got an amazing turn of 45 to 50 people for a fungal foray with Steve Joul. To find out more read our blog post here
Amethyst Deceivers photographed by Martin Black in Adel Woods in November 2022
Purple hairstreak butterflies found in Adel Woods
Thank you to the Worrilows for these beautiful photos of purple hairstreak butterflies in Adel Woods taken on the 16th July 2022. Last August they found two of these butterflies on an oak tree bordering the disused rugby pitch to the north of Crag Lane.
Purple Hairstreaks seem to be moving northwards with climate change – they used to be found only in southern areas. They are found on oak trees and it is hard to say how common they are because they spend their time up in the canopy where the main adult food source is honeydew – a rich sugary liquid excreted by aphids and other insects as they feed on plant sap.
The Worrilows have also found green hairstreak butterflies on Adel Moor three years running – see the article below.
Green Hairstreak Butterflies on Adel Moor
For the third year running, Green Hairstreak Butterflies have been found on Adel Moor. Although this species is found throughout the UK, in the Leeds area it has until now been found only on Otley Chevin.
For more information and photos please click here: 17th April 2022
Leeds University Peregrines
They don’t belong to Leeds University, but peregrine falcons are nesting in the top of Leeds University’s Parkinson Building and are now incubating four eggs. In Spring 2018 and 2019 they successfully raised seven chicks. In 2020 they were seen now and again on the nesting platform but did not nest. In 2021 they laid three eggs in late March but, unfortunately, none hatched.
Breeding activity usually starts in February and March and you can keep a watch on what is happening this year via two live webcams at this link Leeds Peregrines. Click on the camera 1 picture and you will know that the picture is live because you will see the traffic moving at the top of the screen. From experience, I recommend looking at the link on computer or tablet as a mobile phone may not be able to show the live streaming.
The website has a fantastic blog written by Paul Wheatley (@leedsbirder).
Paul Wheatley has taken some amazing footage of the peregrines and other wildlife. Have a look at his films of peregrines on vimeo – peregrines – and then browsing through the rest of them.
We hope that you enjoy exploring them.
Ring Necked Parakeets in Leeds
Steve Joul has been observing a flock of Ring Necked Parakeets in Roundhay Park: see our blog post for details
Our new orchard in Adel Wood.
On the 18th March 2021 Steve Joul planted some fruit trees in Adel Woods as part of Leeds City Council’s Woodland Creation scheme – see our blog post for more details.
New Interpretation panels in Adel Woods
As part of the Wilderness on Your Doorstep project in the Meanwood Valley, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Adel Woods was allocated three interpretation panels to be sited (…see more)
Improvements to the Meanwood Valley Trail at the Slabbering Baby
At the end of February 2021, Leeds City Council started work to improve the path in the area of the Slabbering Baby. There has been a longstanding problem because (…see more)
The benefits of Spending Time in Nature
Even though we can’t work in Adel woods at the moment, we can still benefit from enjoying a walk and observing the trees, plants and wildlife. See our blog for the health benefits of a walk on the wild side!
Steve Joul’s peregrinations and observations
Steve has been sending me photographs of nature he has seen over the last few months.
Here are some wild flowers photographed on the 31st October. I think that you will agree that they lift the spirits!
And here is a post of the awesome murmuration of starlings at Fairburn Ings when Steve visited on the 27th November 2020.
The flora and fauna of Adel Woods
Click on the images below for a better view of some of the flora and fauna of Adel Woods!
Assorted sightings over the Summer
A family of local nature enthusiasts have found an unusual colony of green hairstreak butterflies on Adel Moor, and I have received reports of newts in Adel Pond, and videos of thrush chicks and badgers. I have posted on our blog entries about newts, butterflies and moths in Adel Woods, and CCTV footage of badgers.
In May, Barbara and I were looking at our garden pond and saw a blue military transporter of a dragonfly flitting around. It turns out it was a broad-bodied chaser – a male, the female is green-brown. Interestingly, it is normally found in southern and central England and South Wales, so it looks as if the species is moving northwards with climate change. I am sorry it is not a very good picture – it didn’t stay in the same place for long and I took it with my iPhone. It is resting on a purple iris.
By the way, isn’t it great to be able to look at the sky and see a clear blue with no sign of a vapour trail anywhere!
If you have any photographs or film of this year’s wildlife which might be suitable to put on our blog, please forward it to foaw@me.com
And while you are on our website, why not browse some of our blog entries!
Mailing list
If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please post a comment on the website – it won’t be published but will come through to us as an email.
Another way of keeping in touch is to follow this website. At the bottom right of the screen (on a computer) you should see a follow button. Click on the button and follow the instructions and each time a new post is put on our blog, a copy will be sent to you as an attractive email. If you ever want to unsubscribe, every email sent to you from the website has an Unsubscribe button and you just have to click on it and the job is done.
FOAW do not use your email address and will not pass it on to anyone else.
Note: FOAW cannot subscribe you to the website or unsubscribe you from it: you have to do it yourself.
Friends of Adel Woods 
Hi does adel bog area need some kind of water management it seems to dry out in summer.thanks mark pedder.
Thanks for your kind comments Mark. Adel Woods is part of the Meanwood Valley Local Nature Reserve so it does have a formal nature conservation designation reflecting its wildlife value but also its value for recreation and education. Ranger Steve Joul.
dipper seen on stone in stream near bridge on stairfoot lane today.
That’s great, thanks for mentioning this. When I was based in Meanwood Park in the late eighties one came to fight his reflection in a window every day. He nested under a bridge on top of the sewage outfall pipe!
Hello, again, from Victoria, B.C.
I have a small correction to my earlier comment regarding my grandfather. He sailed to Canada in 1904. Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Hi Carole, Thanks for your comment on Friends of Adel Woods website. We would definitely be interested in receiving copies of the photographs of Adel Moor and Stairfoot Cottage. You can see lots of pictures of Adel Moor in the blog on our website – it is still there though I suspect smaller than it was 120 years ago. If you are able to scan the photographs, please email them to me at foaw@me.com. Yours, Roger Gilbert, chair of Friends of Adel Woods.
Two old family photos of Adel led me to your blog and a week of very interesting reading. My plan was to parcel out the entries over a longer period but then I began binge reading to find answers to questions such as, “What is a Slabbering Baby?” (I discovered the answer in your May, 2017 entry.) I enjoyed all of the photos and entries especially those demonstrating the progress you’ve made over the years.
I marvel at the numbers of trees you’ve cleared from the paths, bags of garbage removed, stairs built, events hosted, etc.
The Buck Stone is huge and I love the picture of friends posing on it in the sun! How many acres is the group working to clear on Adel Moor?
Thanks for all you’re doing for the community. The folks who come out to walk the trails are lucky ducks!!
Just learned of your wonderful work today, from my son in Ilkely, while I am far away in Melbourne, Australia. We used to live in Adel and my children and I spent many happy hours in Adel Woods, N of Stairfoot lane by Adel Beck, and around the Crag. We used to hunt for crayfish and golf balls. I would insert a photo from 1980, but can’t find a way to get it into this comment. Help please …
Hi Jim, Thanks for your compliments on our work: we are delighted that news of our work has spread to Australia! Thanks for your two photographs – reminders of happy times! Unfortunately, I cannot find a way of adding them into this response. Wishing you all the best for the future. Yours, Roger, chair of FOAW
It has come to my attention while talking to fellow ecologists that our lovely area of Adel Woods is probably the richest area for nature in the whole of West Yorkshire. This is due to the retention of ecological features such as the heath, bog, meadow and pond that are the focus of attention from Friends Of Adel Woods, features that have disappeared from many other areas. We also have many types of woodland and the becks which are home to countless other species. Steve Joul.
Leeds microscopical society are having pond life meeting Monday June 6th 10am methodist Church Hall on the avenue Ls17. All welcome free to attend. We will be looking at water life from a local sample. Be prepared to be amazed.
There is fallen tree branch and Holly Bush at the tunnel top right hand corner of plantation above Rugby club… May need chainsaw type clearance
Top right 30 yard tunnel under Bush on main path now blocked at end due to large fallen branch