A beautiful morning and twelve volunteers met by the cricket pavilion at 10 am. Five of us chose to litterpick and seven to work on Adel Bog.
Litterpicking – five volunteers, coat hangers and a lot of poo bags!
The five litterpickers split into two teams of two and one Friend who likes to pick up litter while walking her dog Coco.
One team worked their way up to Crag Lane and then along Crag Lane to the Stair Foot Lane carpark. In the carpark they found lots of litter, especially paper towels and a lot of bagged dog poo bags in the bushes. In all they collected about forty poo bags. In addition they found a number of empty pop cans and bottles. One of the team also took the opportunity saw off a branch that was blocking one of the paths.
The other team picked up litter from the Village Green, filling one bag with coat hangers, a full bottle of hand sanitizer and metal rods as well as the usual plastic bags, cans, and poo bags.
Our solo litter picker picked up two bags of litter, making her way though the woods to Gemma’s field, around Adel Crag and then back through the disused rugby field. After taking Coco home, she returned to pick up litter from around the edges of the Village Green. She found two areas where rubbish had been deliberately buried – five beer bottles and twenty to thirty Martin House charity bags.
Restoring Adel Bog – a team effort
Friends of Adel Woods have been working on Adel Bog since 2011, removing saplings, bracken and brambles.
Today we were working mainly on the northern edge of the bog, where the boundary has moved several metres southwards because we were unable to do as much work during the Covid lockdowns.
We made full use of our three tree poppers bought with the aid of grants from Alwoodley Parish Council. These amazing tools enable us to pull up small saplings in a fraction of the time it would take to remove them using mattocks.
We also cut back a lot of the branches of larger trees – especially holly – which were reaching out over the bog.
We used the saplings, branches and brambles to build up the dead hedge created by ranger David Preston on the southern and western boundaries of the bog.
Whilst the bog may look very dry in the photos, it was actually pretty wet and in a couple of months it will be full of wild flowers such as heath spotted orchids, bog asphodel and torrential.
About Friends of Adel Woods
We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our activities and would be delighted if you would like to join us. The mental and physical health benefits of getting out in the countryside and social contact are well-known.
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 such as bat walks, fungal forays and birdsong walks.
We are a very friendly group and welcome new members who want to help preserve our special woods, enjoy fresh air, exercise in the woods, and make new friends.
If you would like to take part in our activities, keep an eye on our Home Page. You don’t need to book to come along to one of our work “parties”: just come along!
If you would like to join our email mailing list, please get in touch by leaving a comment on this website – you should be able to see a comment box at the bottom of this page.
Friends of Adel Woods 