Monthly Archives: July 2019

Alan Yarker has sent me these beautiful photographs of southern hawker dragonflies.

They were taken not taken in Adel Woods, but around his garden pond in Adel, just a short distance away, and they show just how much a small pond can contribute to the diversity of wildlife in our gardens.

A fine day. One Friend went litter picking and ten of us worked on Adel Bog.

Adel Bog is a lovely little habitat in the middle of the woods. When FOAW was set up in 2009, the bog was in serious decline – in danger of being absorbed by the surrounding woodland. It had become overgrown by molinia caerulea (purple moor grass) and many saplings or small trees were becoming established. However, it still had a population of beautiful heath spotted orchids.

In 2011 the British Trust for Conservation volunteers worked on the bog for several days, removing much of the molinia and the saplings, funded in part by Leeds City Council and in part by Alwoodley Parish Council. Since then we have carried out work on the bog every year except 2017), clearing trees, brambles, and bracken. There is a gallery of photos below showing some of the work.

In the last three years FOAW have not spent as much time working on the bog because we have focused on Adel Moor, and the saplings, and brambles were definitely staging a comeback. However, the bog was still looking beautiful: there were plenty of heath spotted orchids and a wonderful display of bog asphodel and other native wild flowers.

Today we cleared brambles and saplings. It was a beautiful morning and we saw interesting insects including leafhoppers and a grasshopper. We also saw (and heard) a pair of buzzards circling overhead.