Sunday, 18th February 2024: litterpicking and path clearing

A mild overcast day, yet with the promise of Spring: lots of bird activity and song.

Ten of us met in the Stairfoot Lane carpark at 10 am and agreed to split into three teams: four litterpickers; three to tidy up and clear brambles from the trees in the Hospice Woodland; and three to clear encroaching holly and branches from footpaths.

All three teams had a successful morning. Unfortunately, only the footpath team(which included your correspondent) took any photos, so this report will focus on work done on footpaths. However, the litterpickers collected eight bags of rubbish and the Hospice Woodland team freed many trees from the stranglehold of brambles!

The footpath team started by clearing a few overhanging branches around the car park and then made our way along Crag Lane, a public bridleway, to the picnic area. Here we removed some overhanging branches which would be obstructive to horse riders.

We then continued along Crag Lane towards the Rugby Club pruning back holly from the path on our way.

Shortly before the Rugby Club a branch from an elder tree had snapped and was hanging across the path at high level. We stopped to remove this.

From there we continued along Crag Lane and then turned left onto the path which runs adjacent to eastern end of the disused rugby pitch. We cut back holly at the junction of Crag Lane and the path and then made our way up the path, cutting back encroaching holly.

Finally, we removed a large tree which had fallen across the footpath.

About Friends of Adel Woods

Friends of Adel Woods were formed in 2009 to help maintain Adel Woods and encourage people to enjoy them. We meet one morning a month to carry out various jobs or ”work parties”, and we also put on educational events.  We are a very friendly group and welcome new members who want to help preserve our special woods, enjoy fresh air and exercise in the woods and make new friends. If you would like to take part in our activities, just come along to one of our work parties or get in touch by leaving a comment on this website.