Adel Moor on 9th June 2024 – two Friends of Adel Woods in the distance
Another lovely morning spent in Adel Woods, litter picking and working on Adel Moor with David Preston our local Parks and Countryside ranger.
We had one person litter picking today, and she gathered one and a half bags of rubbish.
Six of us worked on the moor with David, focusing on the bottom or western end.
We had a very successful morning on the moor, cutting back tree branches from around the edge of the moor to give the heather a chance to thrive, and removing saplings and seedlings – a job made much easier with the use of our own and the council’s tree poppers. For more information about the work we have been doing on Adel Moor, see our blog entry for Saturday 25th May.
David Preston with four happy Friends of Adel Woods
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.
Our next events
Our next work party will be on Saturday the 20th July when we will be litterpicking and clearing scrub from around the Buck Stone. Details of the meeting place will be given on the homepage of our website shortly and via our email mailing list shortly.
Our next educational event will be on Sunday the 21st July from 2 to 4 pm, when Steve Joul, our expert naturalist, will be leading a stream and pond life safari. Again, more information will be given on our website and via our email mailing list.
Both of these events are suitable for children, provided that they are accompanied by a responsible adult.
Adel Moor on 9th June 2024: bilberries in the foreground, and heather in the background.
Friends of Adel Woods on Adel Moor on 21st April 2024
This evening we held our Annual General meeting, attended by seven members of our committee and one Friend, with apologies from two members of our committee who were away, and two Friends.
The minutes of last year’s Annual General Meeting were approved.
The Chair gave a report of the past year’s activities and thanked the committee and all volunteers for the work done. His report can be read below.
The Treasurer presented the Income and Expenditure account for the year. The funds held on 31st March 2024 were £88.82. Since then a grant of £159.96 from Alwoodley 2030 has been received giving a current balance of £248.78.
Thanks were given to Rob Hall for auditing the accounts.
Rob Hall was re-elected as auditor for the forthcoming year.
All the existing members of the committee chose to remain in office. Roger Gilbert was elected Chair; Judith White was re-elected Treasurer; Sue Chambers was elected as minute secretary.
All present unanimously gave a vote of thanks to David Preston for all the work he has done in Adel Woods and with Friends of Adel Woods in the last year.
The Chair proposed votes of thanks to Judith White and Stephanie Clarke, who will shortly be leaving Alwoodley, for all the work they have done as Treasurer and Secretary respectively, and as committee members and members of Friends of Adel Woods over the last fifteen years. This was unanimously approved.
The Chair’s Report
We are just about to complete our fifteenth year of FOAW and in the last year we have had a successful year with many work parties and educational walks and talks.
Work Parties
Repairing the Stairfoot Lane steps on 30th September 2023
Starting with work parties, we have had 18 work days comprising:
13 mornings of litterpicking
7 mornings working on Adel Moor – removing bracken, brambles and saplings. Three of these took place on a Wednesday.
1 morning on Adel Pond and ditches with David Preston
2 mornings on Adel Bog, one with David Preston and one with David and Heather Wagstaffe
5 mornings of path clearing – including repairing the Stairfoot Lane steps
1 morning clearing scrub and bracken from around the Buck Stone
2 days of nest box cleaning and surveying with Steve Joul
1 morning of mowing the cricket meadow and learning to scythe with Leeds City Council ranger, Rachel Todnor.
The astute among you will have noted that the list totals thirty two activities, not eighteen. This is because on many of our work parties we do both litter picking and some other activity – such as path clearing or working on Adel Moor.
Joint Events with Alwoodley 2030
A joint work party from FOAW and Alwoodley 2030 in August 2023
In addition, Friends of Adel Woods supported two events organised by Alwoodley 2030: in August 2023, clearing scrub from around the young fruit trees planted in the former rugby practice field; and in January this year, pruning and clearing scrub from around a mature apple tree in Copper’s Field behind the Buckstones.
Educational Events
David Preston shares some fascinating facts about bats
We had four educational events in the year May 2023 to April 2024.
In June last year, we took the opportunity of a band concert on Alwoodley Village Green to have a stall to promote awareness of our work. Thank you to Judith, Stephanie and Tamsin for helping with that – and to Daddy Kool the ice cream man who helped us to put up the gazebo in a strong wind.
On the 1st September, Leeds City Council ranger, David Preston, led a very successful bat walk.
On the 8th October our committee member and local naturalist, Steve Joul, led an equally successful fungal foray.
And on the 5th May Steve led our annual birdsong walk when we saw or heard twenty five species of birds including a willow warbler.
A birdsong walk in Adel Woods with Steve Joul in May 2024
We are grateful to David and Steve for leading these walks. I know from the messages I receive after these events that people really enjoy them.
Grants
The Friends of Adel Woods’ tree popper
We received two grants this year:
In August, Alwoodley Parish Council gave us a grant to enable us to purchase a tree popper, a fantastic tool for removing saplings from Adel Moor and Adel Bog.
In March this year, Alwoodley 203 gave us a grant to purchase four top of the range nest boxes.
We are very grateful to the Parish Council and Alwoodley 2030 for their generosity.
And Finally…
Thanks are due to our committee and volunteers for all the work that they have done over the last year. We are looking forward to another year of fun, laughter and friendship.
And thank you again to David Preston and Steve Joul for leading events over the last year, and to Leeds City Council Ranger, Rachel Todner, who mowed the cricket meadow and taught us to how to use a scythe.
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.
Friends of Adel Woods prepare to survey and clean nest boxes in January 2024
Last night, after yet another day of heavy rain, I went to bed thinking that today would be a wash out and nobody would turn up for today’s Friends of Adel Woods event (I know that I tend to go on about the weather in these blog posts but, in my defence, we do live in the UK, and we have just dripped through the wettest Autumn, Winter and Spring for years).
It was therefore a bit of a shock when I drew the curtains this morning and it was a beautiful day with not a cloud in sight.
Even better, we had an excellent turn out of thirteen volunteers (including yours truly) for today’s work party: two for litter picking, one for a bit of litter picking and working on the moor; and another ten of us working exclusively on Adel Moor.
Friends of Adel Woods working on Adel Moor on the 25th May 2024
The litter pickers worked mainly around the area where houses on the Buckstone estate back on to Adel Woods, and around the children’s play area on Alwoodley Village Green. Fortunately, there wasn’t a huge amount of rubbish to pick up but they picked up a couple of bagfuls.
A view across Adel Moor on the 25th May 2024
On Adel Moor we continued the work we have been doing for almost fifteen years – removing tree seedlings, young saplings and brambles – concentrating today, as on 21st April on the lower western end of the moor.
There is still a lot of work to do, but today the heather and bilberries were looking great. It is not easy to remember what the moor looked like in the early days of Friends of Adel Woods, and so here is a photograph of our treasurer, Stephanie, working on the moor on the 24th May 2011. It shows just how much our Parks and Countryside rangers, and Friends of Adel Woods and other groups have achieved over the years.
Working on Adel Moor on the 24th May 2011
Our volunteers did an excellent job in very warm conditions and, once again, our trusty tree popper did excellent service in speeding up the removal of unwanted saplings.
Man conquers nature – with a tree popper!
Another really enjoyable morning and here are some of our happy volunteers!
Tired and happy volunteers after a good morning’s work!
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.
Our next events
Next Thursday, the 30th May, we will be holding our Annual General Meeting. All are welcome, so if you would like to attend, please get in touch by leaving a comment on this website. The only pre-requisite for attending is that you care about Adel Woods and would like to help to maintain them.
Our next work party will be on Sunday the 9th June when we will be litterpicking, and working on Adel Moor with Leeds City Council ranger, David Preston, from 10 am to 12 noon.
Our next educational event will be on Sunday the 21st July from 2 to 4 pm, when our expert naturalist Steve Joul will be leading a stream and pond life safari.
Further details are given on our homepage and will be sent out via our mailing list.
A pleasant morning for the Friends of Adel Woods annual birdsong walk with Steve Joul.
We met in Alwoodley Village Green carpark at 6.55 am. Even while waiting we had a good sighting of a heron flying overhead, and heard and spotted Judith’s favourite bird, the chiffchaff, and heard a great tit.
From the carpark we made our way to the south west corner of the village green where we heard a male blackcap singing and after a vigilant search were able to see him singing at the top of a very tall tree -perched far higher than Steve has seen a black cap previously as they are usually seen a few metres from the ground.
On Alwoodley Village Green: where is that blackcap?
We next made our way round the western side of the village green (the wet bottom end!) and through the woods to the track leading down to the cricket club.
While making our way through the woods we saw or heard a number of species of bird – stock dove, robin, wood pigeon, wren, coal tit, magpie, blue tit, jay, dunnock, song thrush and nuthatch.
Having emerged onto the track we saw a pair of greylag geese flying overhead towards the east, and had a fleeting glimpse of a pair of sparrowhawks also flying a eastward at high level. We also heard a song thrush calling from somewhere on the other side of the cricket pitches.
Listening to birdsong on Crag Lane
With the cricket pitches on our left we made our way up to Crag Lane, passed behind the Rugby Club clubhouse, where we heard a redpoll, and turned northwards up the path by the side of the disused rugby pitch into the plantation.
Making our way from Crag Lane up to the Hospice Woodland
At the plantation we turned left and walked past the southern side of the hospice woodland to Stairfoot Lane, spotting en route some goldfinches.
At Stairfoot Lane, we heard several times the descending call of the willow warbler, a song we haven’t heard on our birdsong walks for a few years.
Listening to a willow warbler on Stairfoot Lane, near the Hospice Woodland
We crossed Stairfoot Lane into the mountain-biking tracks and listened to the loud, repeating song of the song thrush.
A female mallard paddling around in a pool amongst the mountain bike tracks
Whilst standing among the bike tracks, listening to the birdsong, and contemplating a very large hole with dirty water and rubbish at the bottom, we had the astonishing sight of a female mallard dropping down through the canopy of the trees and landing in the pool a few feet in front of us. She seemed unphased by our presence, and she was still paddling around happily as we left.
We made our way down past the bike tracks to the Stairfoot Lane carpark and then back along Crag Lane to the Village Green by 9.15 am.
It was a fantastic morning’s birdwatching and birdlistening, and in total we saw or heard twenty five species of birds – not bad for two and a quarter hours. They were in alphabetical order:
Blackbird, several seen and heard
Blackcap, male and female seen separately, several males heard
Blue Tit, several seen and heard
Carrion Crow, several seen and heard carrion on
Chiffchaff, several males seen, several males heard
Coal Tit, single heard
Dunnock, several seen and heard
Goldfinch, single seen and heard
Great Spotted Woodpecker, single heard
Great Tit, several seen and heard
Greylag Goose, pair seen and heard
Heron, single seen
Jay, several seen and heard
Magpie, several seen and heard
Mallard, duck seen
Nuthatch, several heard
Red Kite, single seen
Redpoll, single heard
Robin, several seen and heard
Song Thrush, several seen and heard
Sparrowhawk, pair seen briefly in flight
Stock Dove, pair seen
Willow Warbler, single male singing
Wood Pigeon, several seen and heard
Wren, several seen and heard
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.
Our next events
Our next work party is on Saturday the 25th May when we will be litter picking and working on Adel Moor.
Our next educational event is on Sunday the 21st July 2024 when Steve Joul will be leading a pond and stream life safari.
In our February blog post, I spoke of the promise of Spring; in our March blog post, I said that Spring seemed to be almost here. Today, even though we have had another month of seemingly endless rain, I think that it finally arrived. We had a lovely morning.
We also had a bumper turn out of sixteen volunteers, including four new ones!
We met in Buckstone Road and today we had two tasks: litterpicking; and removing seedlings and saplings from Adel Moor.
Four of our volunteers chose to litterpick, and they gathered two bags of litter, ranging as far as the Stairfoot Lane carpark. One of our seasoned litterpickers commented that when they got there, she had never seen the carpark looking so pristine, so perhaps another group had been out litterpicking recently.
Three eager litter pickers raring to go!
We had twelve volunteers on Adel Moor. This is a special habitat as it is the last piece of heathland in Leeds, and it is home to a small population of viviparous lizards, and green hairstreak butterflies.
A viviparous lizard photographed on Adel Moor(archive photograph)
Without management, the heathland will eventually be taken over by woodland, and so for the last fourteen years Friends of Adel Woods have worked with Leeds City Council rangers to keep the heathland in good condition. One of the tasks is to remove tree seedlings and saplings.
Taking a breather, while working with the tree popper
The smallest seedlings can be pulled up by hand. Others can be dug up using a mini-mattock or a mattock. Saplings with a trunk up to about an inch in diameter can be levered out of the ground using our tree popper, an amazing tool which enables us to get the job done a lot faster than with mattocks and spades.
Two long-standing friends of Adel woodsA happy team at the end of a morning’s work
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.
Our next events
On Sunday the 5th May, our committee member and expert naturalist, Steve Joul, will be leading a birdsong walk in Adel Woods, meeting at 6.55 am in the Village Green carpark opposite the shops on King Lane. This event will be from 7 am to 9 am.
Our next work party will be on Saturday the 25th May when we will be litterpicking and doing further work on Adel Moor from 10 am to 12 noon.
Further details are given on our homepage and will be sent out via our mailing list.
Today, despite a further month of seemingly daily (or nightly) rainfall since our last event, Spring seemed to be almost here. It was a mild, dry day and the sun actually came out at midday!
This morning’s activities were litterpicking and path clearing. We met in the Stairfoot Lane carpark at 9.55 am and although we had a slow start, in the end thirteen Friends turned up – five litterpicking and eight working on clearing paths. And it was really great that we had three first-timer Friends, two of whom were young people!
The path clearers made our way to the picnic area near Adel Crag and trimmed back holly which was narrowing the entrance to the Meanwood Valley Trail and then made our way down the trail.
The Meanwood Valley Trail viewed from the picnic area in Adel Woods
About fifty yards down the trail, a large birch tree had fallen across the path. It was too big for FOAW to deal with, but three of us removed branches which obstructed the path and trimmed back some of the branches from the “top” of the tree to reduce the weight pushing the trunk towards the ground.
The birch tree lying across the Meanwood Valley Trail
We have notified Leeds CC’s forestry department about the tree trunk.
After clearing part of the birch from the Meanwood Valley Trail
After working on the tree, we joined five other members of our team who were pruning back holly further down the Meanwood Valley Trail.
Friends of Adel Woods working on the Meanwood Valley TrailClearing holly from the entrance to one of the side paths
We don’t have any photographs of the litterpickers, but between them they picked up three bags of rubbish which was a great achievement.
A big thank you to all who took part today and helped to look after our woods.
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.
Our next events
Our next work party will be on Sunday the 21st April when we will be litterpicking and working on Adel Moor from 10 am to 12 noon.
On Sunday the 5th May, our committee member and expert naturalist, Steve Joul, will be leading a birdsong walk – from 7 am to 9 am.
Further details are given on our homepage and will be sent out via our mailing list.
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!
A branch removed from over Crag Lane bridleway near the picnic area
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.
Crag Lane, with the disused rugby pitch on the left
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.
If brute force doesn’t work…
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.
Before: a large tree over the path leading north from Crag Lane
Finally, we removed a large tree which had fallen across the footpath.
Man conquers natureAfter: the sun came out as we finished our work
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.
Friends of Adel Woods at the Buck Stone on 16th September 2024
Putting up a nest box for blue tits on the Meanwood Valley Trail
When we surveyed the FOAW nest boxes on the 13th and 14th January, we found that three needed replacing, but only had one spare nest box to put up in their place. The committee therefore agreed to purchase two Schwegler tit boxes from Ark Wildlife. We purchased one with a 32 mm hole which is suitable for blue tits, great tits and nuthatches, and one with a smaller 26mm hole which is suitable just for blue tits.
They arrived yesterday and Steve Joul and your correspondent put them up this morning. We already have one Schwegler nest box near Old Leo’s clubhouse and we have been very impressed with it. It was donated to us in 2010 by our member Tina and it is very well designed and as good as new.
The blue tit box on an oak tree by the Meanwood Valley Trail
This morning we put up the first nest box on the Meanwood Valley Trail about 100 metres north of the Seven Arches aqueduct. While there, we took the opportunity to have a look to see how the Seven Arches looks following work carried out by its owner, Yorkshire Water, to remove trees and brambles growing on the structure. A few weeks earlier, our local ranger, David Preston, and the Meanwood Valley Volunteer rangers had cleared scrub from the Scotland Wood side.
The Seven Arches photographed from the Scotland Wood sideand looking good!
We put up the second nest box on the Meanwood Valley Trail just north of Adel Pond.
Putting up a tit box on the Meanwood Valley Trail north of Adel Pond
The Schwegler nest boxes are made of a mixture of woodchips, concrete and clay and are long-lasting- expected to last for up to 25 years. We are looking forward to see how our new nest boxes have fared when we survey and clean them next January.
Snowdrops by the side of Buckstone Road
On the way home afterwards it was a pleasure to see the snowdrops by the stream running alongside Buckstone Road.
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 ”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. Please get in touch by leaving a comment on this website if you would like to take part in our activities.
A glorious sunrise over Alwoodley at 8 am, after several days of intense cold.
This morning, five of us met in the Stairfoot Lane carpark at 10 am. Although the weather had started to thaw, the carpark was still a dangerous sheet of ice.
Our goals this morning were path clearing and litterpicking.
Clearing holly along the “middle” path
We all set off together to the steps down to the stream and took the path to the left about four steps down. As we went, we trimmed back holly and removed as far as we could branches which had fallen across the path.
Just before we reached Adel Bog, we found a couple of trees had fallen across the path. They were too big for us to tackle, but we removed branches which were not supporting the trees. As we did so, we found an old blackbirds nest among the branches.
A blackbird’s nest in Adel Woods
When we reached the Slabbering Baby, we went down to Spring Hill bridge and made our way back along the path alongside the stream all the way to Stairfoot Cottage.
Clearing obstacles along the path by the stream
While we were making our way along the paths, Peter picked up a bag of litter.
Thank you to all who took part this morning!
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 “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. Please get in touch by leaving a comment on this website if you would like to take part in our activities.
Today our local countryside ranger, David Preston, led a team of four enthusiastic volunteers working in Buckstone Fields where there is a mature apple tree which needed a bit of love and care. Meeting at 10 am at the Slabbering Baby entrance to the woods on Buckstone Road, they worked till 2 pm.
David led the team in pruning the tree to remove dead wood and open it out, in thinning the birch trees around the apple tree, and making stakes (for future use) and habitat piles with the offcuts.
This event was arranged by Alwoodley 2030 rather than Friends of Adel Woods but two of the volunteers are also members of FOAW.
Thank you to David and all the volunteers for doing a great job!
Alwoodley 2030 is a group of local people living, working or frequently spending time in Alwoodley, Leeds who care deeply about climate and biodiversity and aim to take action to make Alwoodley zero-carbon, and to look after our local habitats and eco-systems.
Friends of Adel Woods 