Friends of Adel Woods

Santa’s Elves hard at work!

Thank you to Old Leo’s rugby club who let us meet in their Clubhouse to make our garlands.

Unfortunately, the Clubhouse had been booked for a charity event in the afternoon to raise funds for dogs and so we were forced out at midday and adjourned to your correspondent’s house to complete as many garlands as we could.

Nevertheless we had a very enjoyable morning – fortified with further shots of Barbara’s non-alcoholic fruit punch and Cooplands’ excellent mince pies (four for a pound!).

For the last two years, Steve Joul has shown us how to make Christmas Garlands and Yule Logs.  This year we decided to go solo and sell some garlands to raise funds.  You know the old adage:  Give a man a fish and he has a meal.  Teach a man to fish …and you get some peace and quiet at the weekends!

Mind what you do with that sellotape!

We decided not to make Yule Logs because it requires a bit more preparation.  However, today was the first step in making garlands – to make the bases so that next weekend we can get off to a flying start and make hundreds of garlands for sale.

We had an excellent turnout and made about 22 bases and a couple of specimen garlands so that the novices knew what the finished product will look like.

David astounds his co-workers when his halo momentarily slips!

Barbara treated us with non-alcoholic punch and we enjoyed some excellent mince pies from Cooplands (four for a pound!).

Yet another happy morning of activities, and friendship!

A morning litterpicking and improving the paths.

Only another 9.9 tonnes to go!

Thank you to Leeds City Council who delivered a load of crushed sandstone for us to play with.

Man Conquers Stream!

Dave  did a great job recreating the Corinth Canal near the picnic area and improving stretch of footpath which regularly turns into a quagmire.

Happy Friends!

Your correspondent had a walk through the woods this afternoon and is pleased to report that on Saturday the Path Clearing team did a wonderful job clearing the path by the Seven Arches and doing further work at Adel Bog.

Generally, it was good to see that path widening work we did on Crag Lane earlier this year has held up really well.  On the other hand, there are weeds a foot high on the path we cleared at the Slabbering Baby entrance.  If you walk down that path, walk on the weeds please!

A beautiful day.  Tina and Tom did some litter picking;  David did cleared paths; and the rest of us cleared holly and other vegetation round Adel Woods’ patch of Japanese Knotweed in preparation for Steve Joul treating it.

Japanese Knotweed is a problematic invasive plant which we are trying to eradicate in this country.  For more information have a look at the wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_knotweed.

Before…

The task turned out to be a lot bigger than anticipated and seven of us were engaged for an hour and half clearing holly.

…and after

A lovely surprise this morning when Win came to offer us some encouragement at this morning’s task.  Win fractured her humerus when she fell at our last event, but the good news is that it is healing well and she will be starting physiotherapy in a week or so’s time.

The Three Graces

We carried out two tasks this morning.  Chris, Carol and Beth litter picked, while the rest of us dug up saplings on the moor.  It was a beautiful morning, though very muggy.

The sapling force focused on a section in the middle of the moor and probably removed at least a hundred birch’s and oaks between us.

The moor is looking really good at the moment.  The heather is in full bloom and looks fabulous, and the good news is that there are lots of young heather plants coming through too.  There are also lots of bilberry plants – some still in flower (which seems quite late).

The account of the morning’s activities would not be complete without mentioning Hector and Chance who kept us entertained with their morning long struggle for possession of Hector’s tennis ball!

Tired and happy

Another beautiful day and another turn out of seventeen Friends to help Steve Joul work on Adel bog.

Tina went litter picking with Pippa. David H went path clearing round the back of the Buckstones.  Michelle went litter picking, and the rest of us worked on the bog.

The bog is looking pretty good at the moment.  It is very wet and muddy.  This is undoubtedly due in part to the very wet weather we have had for the past couple of months.  However, there is no doubt that the bog is a bog, though in need of tender loving care to restore it to its full boggy glory.

We felled a couple of silver birch on the north east corner of the bog, cut back vegetation round the northern margin, and dug up many small trees and stumps on the northern side of the bog.

Steve Joul showed us the heath spotted orchids which are in flower at the moment, and described the difference between them and marsh orchids.  We then counted the orchids in flower and found thirty – though we did not differentiate between the different types.

There are several different types of flowers in bloom at the moment, including the marsh asphodel which like the heath spotted orchids, in Leeds,  is only found in Adel bog.  Other flowers we found were the devils bit scabious, the marsh violet (not in flower), and tormentil.  In writing this note, your correspondent has found the following website which seems pretty good at helping to identify flora and fauna in the UK – http://www.judywoods.dial.pipex.com/

This report would not be complete without a mention in despatches for Win who fell on the way down to the bog and has unfortunately fractured a bone in her shoulder.   Win is an enthusiastic and much appreciated supporter of FOAW and we wish her a speedy recovery.  We are also grateful to Nurse Settle who took Win down to A&E and looked after her so well.

The path to the Buck Stone

Steve Joul and fourteen Friends put in two hours of hard labour to improve the paths leading from the Buck Stones into Adel Woods.

The same view on 4 May 2012

The first was the entrance from Buck Stone Avenue leading down to the Buck Stone.  A local resident had asked if the Parish Council could improve this path which was getting very muddy, and the upshot was that FOAW agreed to do it, Leeds CC providing us with crushed limestone.

The next path was the one lower down Buck Stone Avenue.

Finally, we cleared the path from Buck Stone Road leading towards the Slabbering Baby.

Before…

This has slowly been getting narrower over the last couple of years – two years ago, it was easy to drive a vehicle down the path, but now  the path had become so overgrown

…and after – the same view!

that it was only wide enough for pedestrians walking single file!

Two hours of intense activity and the results were astonishing!

At the end we all had a great sense of achievement – and were exhausted!

Friends relaxing after a job well done!