Monthly Archives: July 2012

Another beautiful day and another turn out of seventeen Friends to help Steve Joul work on Adel bog.

Tina went litter picking with Pippa. David H went path clearing round the back of the Buckstones.  Michelle went litter picking, and the rest of us worked on the bog.

The bog is looking pretty good at the moment.  It is very wet and muddy.  This is undoubtedly due in part to the very wet weather we have had for the past couple of months.  However, there is no doubt that the bog is a bog, though in need of tender loving care to restore it to its full boggy glory.

We felled a couple of silver birch on the north east corner of the bog, cut back vegetation round the northern margin, and dug up many small trees and stumps on the northern side of the bog.

Steve Joul showed us the heath spotted orchids which are in flower at the moment, and described the difference between them and marsh orchids.  We then counted the orchids in flower and found thirty – though we did not differentiate between the different types.

There are several different types of flowers in bloom at the moment, including the marsh asphodel which like the heath spotted orchids, in Leeds,  is only found in Adel bog.  Other flowers we found were the devils bit scabious, the marsh violet (not in flower), and tormentil.  In writing this note, your correspondent has found the following website which seems pretty good at helping to identify flora and fauna in the UK – http://www.judywoods.dial.pipex.com/

This report would not be complete without a mention in despatches for Win who fell on the way down to the bog and has unfortunately fractured a bone in her shoulder.   Win is an enthusiastic and much appreciated supporter of FOAW and we wish her a speedy recovery.  We are also grateful to Nurse Settle who took Win down to A&E and looked after her so well.

The path to the Buck Stone

Steve Joul and fourteen Friends put in two hours of hard labour to improve the paths leading from the Buck Stones into Adel Woods.

The same view on 4 May 2012

The first was the entrance from Buck Stone Avenue leading down to the Buck Stone.  A local resident had asked if the Parish Council could improve this path which was getting very muddy, and the upshot was that FOAW agreed to do it, Leeds CC providing us with crushed limestone.

The next path was the one lower down Buck Stone Avenue.

Finally, we cleared the path from Buck Stone Road leading towards the Slabbering Baby.

Before…

This has slowly been getting narrower over the last couple of years – two years ago, it was easy to drive a vehicle down the path, but now  the path had become so overgrown

…and after – the same view!

that it was only wide enough for pedestrians walking single file!

Two hours of intense activity and the results were astonishing!

At the end we all had a great sense of achievement – and were exhausted!

Friends relaxing after a job well done!