Author Archives: adelwoods

Another great day, and another great turn out.  There were about sixteen of us, which enabled us to carry out a number of tasks.

Some of us litter picked, some tidied up the hospice woodland, and some of us did some more work to improve the surface of Crag Lane near the picnic area.

A big thank you to everyone.

We had a happy morning clearing mud from the worst patch of Crag Lane – just by the picnic area – and putting in some drainage.

There is a good path below the mud, which is the result of years of leaf mould rotting down.  Step one was scraping off the mud, and step two was to create a channel where water can flow away.  Step three was to create a causeway with hardcore provided by Leeds CC.

Thanks to everyone who helped.  Stephanie and Ian also collected several bags of rubbish.

On his way to the picnic area, Ian captured this image of a blue tit examining one of the nest boxes which we put up last year on Crag Lane.  Nice one!

The finished steps leading down from the Stairfoot Lane carpark to the stream.

Thank you BTCV, you have done a fantastic job!

David and I popped out this afternoon to put up the last nest box which we made on 22 January.

This one was made to BTO dimensions and was not as deep as the the rest which we made to RSPB specifications.  In consequence the metal entrance hole plate did not go over the entrance hole and we had to redrill it.

It is just off the Meanwood Valley Trail, below the cricket ground.

Thank you to BTCV for the fantastic work they are doing in putting some steps into the path down from Stairfoot Lane car park to the stream.  This is an established footpath which has fallen into disrepair over recent years.

This picture, taken at the beginning of a four day project,  does not really do justice to how steep this footpath is.

This work is being done at the request of FOAW and Leeds City Council is providing the materials and BTCV the labour.

This picture is taken at the beginning of day 2 of a four day project.

A big thank you to George who took the smaller TV’s to the tip today and other stolen property with them to the police station.

An extraordinary 14 Friends – an extraordinary  number and 14 extraordinary people – took part in an ad hoc litterpick this morning and made a really good job picking up many bags of litter.  Thank you to everyone – the woods look a lot better than before, and I am sure that the hedgehogs, squirrels and other animals in the woods really appreciate the improvement!

Someone had generously dumped 3 old televisions at the side of Crag Lane which we decided to leave till a later date.

Seven of us spent the afternoon putting up 19 nest boxes along the Meanwood Valley Trail and a bat box (with the batboxes we put up last year).

We put up 1 robin box, 1 starling box and 17 titboxes – with a variety of sizes of entrance holes.

An enjoyable morning making 19 tit boxes under the expert tutellage of Steve Joul!

A big thank you to Leeds City Council for providing the wood, to Andrew Jellings for cutting the planks to the correct size, and to Ian Hamilton for drilling all the holes.

But chiefly a big thank you to everyone who turned up and made the morning a great success.