This afternoon Steve Joul, a local naturalist and FOAW committee member, led a Stream and Pond Safari in Adel Woods.
At 2 pm, we met in the Village Green carpark. Steve gave an introductory talk to an enthusiastic group of adults and children, and handed out various fishing nets and containers for transportation to our first port of call – the “beach” next to the bridge across Nanny Beck behind the cricket pavilion.
Once there, Steve moved a few stones in the bottom of the stream, collected a sample of mud and emptied into a tray so that we could see what he had collected.
What seemed at first to be inanimate organic material soon turned out to be full of life – as can be seen from the video below.
In the video we can see freshwater shrimps darting about. Other creatures in the sample were water mite, bloodworms and sludge worms. In the video Steve can be heard to mention “bullheads” – small fish, similar in size to minnows and sticklebacks. We did not find any in Nanny Beck, but we did later on in Meanwood Beck and there is a photograph of one below.
When we had all had a good look Steve returned the creatures to the stream and we made our way down to Adel Pond.
At the pond one of our party soon spotted a newt and Steve caught a couple so that people could have a good look. In the UK we have three species of native newts: the great crested newt, smooth newts and palmate newts. In Adel Pond we have palmate newts, so called because the males have webbing on their back feet. Another distinctive feature is that the males also have a a thin filament at the end of their tails during the breeding season.
We also caught some fearsome dragonfly larvae in the pond.
Finally, at 3.30 we made our way down to the bridge over Meanwood Beck leading to Spring Hill. Here Steve collected a further sample of material from the bottom of the beck.
Among the creatures found in this sample was a bullhead – a small fish which lives on the bottom of fast stony rivers and streams, feeding on such things as mayfly and caddisfly larvae and the eggs of other fish.
By now it was 4 pm and time to make our way home.
In case you are wondering, no creatures were harmed in the course of our safari, and all were returned safely to their natural habitat.
Thank you to Steve for a very interesting afternoon which certainly caught the imagination of all who attended – not least the youngsters.
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 weekend 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 – you should be able to see a comment button at the bottom of this page.
Our next events
Our next work party is on Sunday the 18th August 2024 when we will be litterpicking and working on our orchid meadow (also known as the cricket meadow).
Our next educational event will be on Wednesday the 28th August 2024 from 7.15 to 9 pm when our local countryside ranger, David Preston, will be leading a bat walk.
Further details will be given on our homepage and sent out via our mailing list.
Friends of Adel Woods 