The weather forecast for today was cloudy with sunny spells in the morning and rain from 2 pm onwards.
Your correspondent woke at 7 am to a glorious day – a blue sky with not a cloud in the sky.
By 10 am it was overcast but still a pleasant morning and twelve of us, including Steve Joul, met in Buckstone Road to work on Adel moor and litter pick. Three of us set off to litter pick and the rest of us set off to the moor.
Our task this morning (on the moor) was to dig up brambles and saplings, pull up weeds (like rosebay willow herb), and cut back tree branches encroaching onto the moor. We also had a look at what we could do about trees which have been cut down – or in reality coppiced – in the past.
The moor was looking great: the hard work of FOAW and other groups of volunteers led by Steve Joul and the other rangers has really made a huge difference.
The small light green bushes are the coppiced trees.
All was going well until it started to rain at about 11.15. Being hardy souls, we continued with our work, but then the heavens really opened!
Adel Moor: devotion to duty!
We continued working for a few minutes, but it soon became obvious that the rain was not going to stop and we were all completely saturated.
Adel Moor: 11 May 2019
We abandoned ship and packed away our tools – not an easy thing because everything was by now really wet and we had pools of water in our tool bags and wheelbarrow!
Adel Moor: 11 May 2019
On the way back to the car, we came across our hardy litter pickers!
As always, in good spirits! Note the waterfall coming off the path in the bottom right corner.
Ironically, when we got back to the car, the rain slowed down and eventually stopped and the sun came out!
It was a day of mixed fortunes: your correspondent was delighted that so many Friends turned out today to litter pick work on the moor – which is a lovely place to work, and a favourite among Friends of Adel Woods. But it was frustrating to be rained off when there is so much work to do.
PS It started to rain again at about 1 pm and didn’t stop all afternoon.
Today we had our AGM in the back bar of Old Leo’s Rugby Club. Twelve attended, including Steve Joul of Leeds City Council, with apologies from five Friends.
The Chair gave a review of the last year’s activities before we moved on to the election of officers and committee.
Roger Gilbert was re-elected Chair; Judith White was re-elected Treasurer, and Stephanie Clark was re-elected Secretary. Rob Hall, David Hampshire and David Smith were re-elected members of the committee.
The Chair’s review of the year’s activities will be published to this blog shortly.
Thank you to Old Leo’s Rugby Club for letting us hold our AGM in their clubhouse.
A beautiful, but distinctly chilly, morning and about sixteen of us met with Steve Joul at 7 am in the car park of Old Leo’s Rugby club for our ninth (!) annual birdsong walk.
Unfortunately, your correspondent forgot to take any photos and so he will borrow some photographs from the RSPB website.
Steve made some introductory remarks, handed out some binoculars and bird sheets and we had a look round to see what we could see or hear from the car park. We certainly heard a chaffinch and saw a wood pigeon and carrion crows.
Our route
From the car park we made our way down the lane to the cricket pavilion, pausing to observe the birdlife on the fields. We saw or heard chiffchaffs, blackcaps, wrens, a song thrush, magpies , jackdaws and a mallard (flying overhead).
Male Blackcap (thanks to RSPB)
Chiffchaff (thanks to RSPB)
From there, we passed behind the cricket pavilion and made our way down the path towards the Slabbering Baby. Before we reached the Slabbering Baby we ascended one of the paths up to Adel Moor. We crossed the moor and made our way round the western end and then descended to the Slabbering Baby.
At the Slabbering Baby, we were surprised to find that our nest box on one of the trees adjacent to the bridge over Nanny Beck had disappeared. We searched the ground but there was no trace of it. It seems extremely unlikely that the nest box had simply fallen from the tree because it was made of woodcrete and was very sturdy and very securely attached to the tree. The nest box has been a favourite because for several years it has housed nuthatches – see our blog entry for 27th January 2019.
Nuthatch
From Nanny Beck we made our way up to the pond and then along the path to Bridge Cottage. From there we ascended the steps to the Stairfoot Lane car park where, it being 9 o’clock, most people bid farewell. However, Steve, your correspondent and David, another of our committee members continued up to the Hospice Woodland, through Alwoodley Plantation before returning to the car park.
What we saw or heard
In all we saw or heard 23 species of bird – as listed below. Throughout the walk we were accompanied by the calls of chiffchaffs, black caps and robins.
We had a good sighting of a pair of black caps down by Meanwood Beck, but the highlights of the morning (at least for your corresondent) were sightings of tree creepers and a robin.
As we made our way along Meanwood Beck we were treated to excellent sightings of tree creepers on three occasions – on one occasion a pair. We were able to watch them at leisure as they systematically ran along the underside of branches searching for food.
Treecreeper (thanks to Norfolk Wildlife Trust)
For those of us uncertain of the robin’s song, we had an excellent opportunity to learn it because as we approached the Stairfoot Lane car park we all stopped to listen as a robin sang his heart out perched on a branch just six feet from us. He seemed totally unphased by our presence.
We recorded the following 23 species of bird – including a cockerel in the neighbouring small holding: – Chaffinch – Woodpigeon – Carrion Crow – Wren – Chiffchaff – Song Thrush – Magpie – Jackdaw – Mallard (flying overhead) – Dunnock – Black Cap – Robin – Great Tit – Blue Tit – Blackbird – Bullfinch – Tree Creeper – Long tailed Tits – Greater Spotted Woodpecker – Red Kite
and after most people had left, Willow Warbler, Jay and Jungle fowl (a cockerel).
A turkey has been seen recently in Adel Woods (really!). Unfortunately, it did not make an appearance today.
Willow Warbler
Cocidius
We have a genuine ancient monument in Adel Woods – a Celtic carving made about 1700 years ago on a rock. The carving is believed to show a god called Cocidius. We had a clear view of the carving this morning – and for some reason it was even more clear when photographed – so here it is!
Friends of Adel Woods 