Your correspondent does not know how the Friends of Adel Woods do it, but we did it again: torrential rain on Friday evening, torrential rain on Sunday morning, but a glorious day on Saturday for a team of thirteen to litterpick and help Steve Joul clearing tree saplings from Adel Moor.
Common lizard found on the moor in April this year
To remind you why we clear saplings, Adel Moor is the last bit of original heathland in Leeds and is a unique habitat, home to moorland species including the common lizard. If we did not clear the saplings, the moor would be birch and oak woodland in a matter of years – the number of tree seedlings and saplings is amazing. The birch saplings need to be dug up by the roots: if we merely cut them down, they come back even thicker – as shown by the many thriving coppiced birch trees.
Pride in achievement!
Our team self selected into two groups: those who did the important task of prevention, pulling up hundreds of seedlings by hand; and those who felt in need of hard exercise, digging up coppiced trees with mattocks and spades.
In the morning sunshine, the moor – and in particular the heather – looked magnificent. The FOAW and the many other groups who have worked on the moor over recent years can be very proud of their achievements.
Unfortunately we did not find any lizards this morning, but Geoff did find interesting galls on oak seedlings on the margin of the moor and the surrounding trees- see the picture below.
Friends of Adel Woods 