Today, despite an unpromising weather forecast, we had a magnificent turn out of fifteen volunteers, six to litterpick, and nine to help Joe Craig-Jackson, our local ranger, to work on Adel Bog.
Litterpicking
Our team of six litterpickers divided into a trio, a duo and a soloist who took separate routes covering the Village Green, the disused rugby field, Crag Lane, Adel Crag, the Stairfoot Lane carpark, the path along Adel Beck, and the path through the woods from the pond to Stairfoot Lane.
Between them they picked up four bags of litter including lots of wipes, a nitrous oxide cylinder, a large car carpet, a condom, poo bags, sweet and snack wrappers, bottles, cans, two items of clothing and an old Nokia phone.
Some of our litterpicking equipment after the event
Adel Bog
Adel Bog is a lovely secluded part of Adel Woods. In 2010 the Bog was in a poor state as it had been taken over almost in its entirety by Purple Moor Grass, though it still had populations of wild flowers such as heath spotted orchid and bog asphodel.
In 2011 the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers carried out improvement works on the bog, funded in part by a grant from Alwoodley Parish Council. Since then Friends of Adel Woods have worked to maintain the bog, removing bracken, saplings and brambles, and putting a dead hedge around its southern and western boundaries.
“I really enjoyed tackling those brambles, it was very satisfying.”
Today we continued our work under the guidance of our local ranger, Joe Craig-Jackson. We also put to good use three tree poppers purchased with the aid of grants from Alwoodley Parish Council. Tree poppers are wonderful tools which enable you to remove a sapling with a trunk size up to about 3 centimetres in a fraction of the time it would take with a mattock or a spade. Today we removed many saplings and lots and lots of brambles.
Joe with some of the Friends of Adel Woods
On the way back to our cars at lunchtime, we passed Adel Pond and were delighted that it is in much better condition than it was over the Summer – see our report on the 19th October – though it still needs work to repair a leak.
Adel Pond: water is leaking from under the bridge on the far side
Grant from Alwoodley Parish Council
Friends of Adel Woods are very grateful to Alwoodley Parish Council for a grant in October this year for the purchase of two tree poppers. The council had previously given us a grant for the purchase of our first tree popper in Autumn 2023.
A tree popper is basically a lever with a jaw at the bottom. You put the jaw around the sapling trunk and lever it out of the ground. The tree poppers enable us achieve far more in a morning’s work when removing saplings from Adel Bog, Adel Moor, the orchid meadow and anywhere else in the woods.
Join 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.
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 and 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. Our next work party is on Sunday 14th December 2025 when we will be litterpicking and clearing paths.
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 button at the bottom of this page.
Before: Adel Woods Pond at 10.23 on Sunday the 19th October 2025 – looking Southwards
Today we had a fantastic turn out of seventeen volunteers – seven for litterpicking and ten to work with our local Parks and Countryside ranger, Joe Craig-Jackson, on Adel Pond.
Adel Woods Pond
Adel Woods pond is an important habitat for frogs, newts, dragonflies and other invertebrates and every Autumn Friends of Adel Woods work with our local ranger to dredge silt from the pond.
However, as can be seen from the photograph above, the pond has had a difficult year. It is fed by a ditch on the north side, and water flows out via a sluice gate in the southern bank. Unfortunately, a leak developed in the sluice gate about a year ago, and the situation was exacerbated because very little water has flowed into the pond over the very dry summer: a month ago it was possible to walk to the middle of the pond without getting wet feet!
Joe Craig-Jackson tests the water depth in Adel Woods Pond
We made our way to the pond and, having outlined our aims for the morning, Joe tested the depth of the water with a stick. There was little water in the northern half of the pond, but with the recent rain the ground had turned to mud. There was a foot or more of water in the southern half of the pond.
One of the things that surprises us each Autumn is the number of sticks, branches, logs and large stones which end up in the pond. Each year we remove them, but each year we find a lot more have arrived. Some of the sticks and branches must fall in from the neighbouring trees, but some of them -and the logs and the large stones – must be thrown in by passers-by for a lark.
Removing debris and silt from Adel Woods Pond
The first job was therefore to remove all logs, branches and stones. In addition to the many to be seen lying on the mud, in the southern half of the pond there were many more concealed under the surface of the water.
The second job was to clear the ditch feeing the pond and to dig as much mud as possible from the pond, load it into buckets and dispose of it well away from the pond.
The outflow from Adel Woods Pond
Our third task was to clear all the vegetation and mud from around the leaking sluice gate so that we could see work out what needs to be done to repair the leak.
Some of our happy volunteers at the end of a morning’s work
We had a very successful couple of hours work as can be seen by comparing the photograph below with the photograph at the beginning of this post.
After:Adel Woods Pond at 12.24 pm
Litterpicking
Seven of our Friends picked up litter today.
Flytipping in Adel Woods
Starting from our meeting point on Buckstone Road, they picked up litter on the recreation ground, along Crag Lane, around Adel Crag, the Stairfoot Lane carpark and Alwoodley Plantation. In addition to the normal bottles, cans, paper litter, and bags of dog poo, they found two lots of flytipping – a bag of clothes and a table football table.
More flytipping in Adel Woods
Join 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.
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 and 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 button at the bottom of this page.
Adel Pond: 24th June 2025 looking towards the sluice gate on the southern side.
Adel Pond is an important breeding place for frogs and palmate newts but it has suffered inthis year’s drought. A leak of water from the pond around the sluice gate on the southern side of the pond has made the situation worse.
Today Steve Joul and the chair of Friends of Adel Woods met with members of the Parks and Countryside department of Leeds City Council to ascertain what work needs to be carried out to repair the pond and to improve it. We were able to establish that water was not actually leaking through the sluice gate but flowing out through the clay below or to the side of the gate. It is possible that the leak has been caused by tree roots.
Adel Pond: 23rd July 2025
This was a great opportunity to meet up with rangers Nick Denman and Joe Craig-Jackson who will be working with Friends of Adel Woods from now on, and with senior ranger Joe Green and Jodie Robertson, conservation and woodland creation officer.
After inspecting the pond we had a quick look at the orchid (or cricket) meadow where Nick or Joe will be working with FOAW on 11th August. It was agreed that the meadow will be mown by two of the ranger team in advance of the 11th August, so that members of FOAW can rake up and compost the mowings when working with Joe. It was also agreed that a small area of the meadow would be left so that members of FOAW can have a go at mowing with scythes.
Adel Moor on 23rd July2025
On the way back to our vehicles, we had a look at Adel Moor to discuss the work required to look after it. The moor was looking magnificent.
The continued drought since the 23rd July has left the pond almost completely dry, as shown in this photograph taken on the 10th August.
Adel Pond on 10th August 2025
Join 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.
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 and 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 and come along to one of our work parties. Our next work party is on the Saturday the 9th August and our local ranger will be leading a batwalk for us the evening of Thursday the 14th August.
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 button at the bottom of this page.
We are just about to complete our sixteenth year since Friends of Adel Woods came into being, and the last twelve months have been successful with many work parties and educational walks and talks.
Work parties
Usually, our work parties comprises a team of litterpickers and another team carrying out a task such as path clearing.
In the last year we have had twelve mornings of litterpicking and picked up about fifty bags of rubbish – so hats off to our dedicated band of litterpickers! We haven’t kept a tally, but it seems likely that since Friends of Adel Woods was formed, we have picked up over eight hundred bags of rubbish – in addition to disposing of larger items such as tyres and beer barrels!
Some of the rubbish we have collected over the last year
As well as litterpicking we have completed fifteen and a half mornings on the following tasks:
one morning working on Adel Moor with David Preston removing bracken, brambles and saplings.
one morning clearing bracken from around the Buck Stone
three mornings mowing the orchid meadow
four mornings clearing paths and fallen trees
three mornings working on Adel Bog (1 with David Preston)
one morning dredging Adel Pond with David Preston
one and a half days of nest box cleaning and surveying with Steve Joul
one morning putting tree guards on the orchard in the practice rugby field
Working on the orchid meadow with David Preston
Educational events
Since the last AGM we have had six educational walks – five with Steve Joul, and one with Leeds City Council ranger, David Preston. They were all a great success.
A fungal foray with Steve Joul on 17th November 2024
Steve led a variety of walks:
30th June: exploring biodiversity – a joint event with Alwoodley 2030
20th July: a stream and pond safari
29 September: a fungal foray
17th November: a fungal foray
4th May this year, a birdsong walk
On 28th August David led a guided batwalk attended by twenty six adults and nine children.
A bat walk with David Preston on 28th August 2024
I know from speaking to people who attend, and the messages I get from participants after these events, that people really enjoy them.
The Friends of Adel Woods Blog
If you would like to know more about our activities, please have a look at our blog entries.
Grants
Putting tree guards on the orchard in bitterly cold driving rain
We have received two grants in the last year.
In February we received a grant from Alwoodley 2030 to purchase tree guards for the orchard in the practice rugby field as the trees were suffering damage from deer and rabbits.
This month the Leeds Together Fund awarded Friends of Adel Woods a grant to purchase three litterpickers and six bin bag hoops. The purpose of the grant was to put on a community event during May and on the 31st May we are having a community litterpick.
Improvements to the Stairfoot Lane Carpark and Crag Lane
The Stairfoot Lane carpark after improvements
In December Leeds City Council resurfaced the Stairfoot Lane carpark and created a separate fenced off path through the carpark for the route of the Meanwood Valley Trail to keep pedestrians away from vehicles. This was clearly a big improvement.
In February the council resurfaced Crag Lane from the Stairfoot Lane carpark to Old Leo’s rugby club. This involved scraping off the mud from the surface, laying hardcore and then creating the new surface. This end result is a great improvement to Crag Lane.
Crag Lane after resurfacing work
However, my particular reason to mention this is that one of our regular volunteers, Matthew, contacted me on the 9th February, before the work was completed. He was very concerned because he had noticed that the hardcore used was of poor quality – containing crushed bricks, concrete, white ceramics and plastic piping – which was completely unacceptable in a woodland area. I contacted our local councillors and David Preston and passed on Matthew’s concerns and the result was that the worst hardcore was scraped off, and replaced with better quality hardcore.
So thank you very much to Matthew.
Water Quality in our Local Streams
Possible pollution in Adel Beck
Pollution of our rivers is a hot topic at the moment and in the past it has been raised with me by members of Friends of Adel Woods. One of the problems about looking into this is having accurate information about whether the streams are polluted or not.
In October last year I met up with a PhD student at Leeds who is active in promoting citizen science projects relating to water quality of our local streams. On 10th October, I walked with her along Nanny Beck and Meanwood Beck to look for signs of pollution and in February I organised a meeting of members of Friends of Adel Woods who would like to get involved in a water sampling project. About fourteen people attended the meeting. I am organising a meeting to form two or three groups who will take responsibility for the sampling. While it makes sense for Friends of Adel Woods to help steer this project, I am hoping that this will become a separate self-sustaining project.
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust event
On the 19th November, three of our committee – Steve, Sue and myself – went to an event organised by Alwoodley 2030 when Yorkshire Wildlife Trust gave a talk on the state of nature in Yorkshire.
Thank yous
Working on Adel Bog
So as usual, I would like to thank our committee and volunteers for all the work they have done over the last year. FOAW would not exist without the committee and volunteers. And I am looking forward to another year of fun, laughter and friendship. New members are always welcome!
I would particularly like to thank Judith for all the work she has done as treasurer over the last 16 years, and Stephanie who was our secretary from 2009 until July of last year.
Steve Joul on a stream and pond safari
Thank you to Steve Joul for leading five educational events this year – and helping to raise funds for Friends of Adel Woods.
Thank you to David Preston for the work he has done with us the last year. David is changing jobs to join the Public Rights of Way team imminently, and so we may not work with him again.
Looking to the future
As I and the rest of the committee get older, I get more concerned about how to ensure that Friends of Adel Woods continues for years to come. This is something which we need to consider over the coming year. New volunteers are always welcome!
Roger Gilbert
Chair of Friends of Adel Woods
COME ALONG TO FRIENDS OF ADEL WOODS EVENTS!
We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our activities and would be delighted if you would like to join us.
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 and 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 and come along to one of our work parties.
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 button at the bottom of this page.
A Spring-like day and twelve volunteers turned out to pick up litter and to work with David Preston, our local ranger, on Adel Pond.
Adel Pond
Adel Pond is near the Slabbering Baby and was constructed originally as a water supply for a flax mill. Now it is an important breeding place for newts and frogs.
Adel Pond – it can be seen that nearly half of the pond is silted up
Water flows into it from a ditch on the northern edge but the pond silts up from the mud brought in from the ditch. Each Autumn since 2010 Friends of Adel Woods have dredged mud from the pond and the ditches which feed it in order to keep sufficient depth of water in the pond for newts and frogs to breed.
Dredging the pond
It’s not just mud that finds its way into the pond. Each year we fish out a surprising number of logs – which are presumably thrown into the pond by passers-by. We also find each year, in the mud where the water flows into the pond, pieces of broken china cups, saucers and plates which must have been thrown into the pond by picnickers or patrons of Verity’s tea rooms which used to be situated nearby.
Digging out mud where water flows into the pond Clearing the ditches feeding Adel Pond
This year there is another problem with the pond: the water level has dropped.
Dropping mud onto the outflow channel of the pone in the hope it might help to raise the water level
Water flows out of the pond from a channel on the South side of the pond. The level of the water is maintained by a barrier across the channel. Upon inspection today, it seems that water is leaking out from beneath the barrier. Today we tried a temporary fix by putting mud in the area of the leak. However, this is probably not going to work and we need to find a permanent fix in 2025.
Part of the pond dredging team after a hard morning’s work
Litterpicking
At 10 am we had one litter picker who picked up litter along Buck Stone Road, around the Village Green, the playground and the Village Green carpark, along Crag Lane, around Adel Crag and in the Stairfoot Lane carpark, picking up two bags of litter.
Later on another volunteer arrived and picked up litter in the vicinity of the cricket club.
Join Friends of Adel Woods!
We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our activities and would be delighted if you would like to join in our activities in 2025. Our next planned event is on Sunday the 12th January when we will be cleaning and surveying our nest boxes. The following Saturday we will be litterpicking and path clearing, and then on Sunday the 26th we will be completing our nest box survey and clean up.
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 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.
At 2.00 pm this afternoon, about twenty of us met up with Steve Joul in Alwoodley Village Green car park for an enjoyable and educational stroll through Adel Woods. Steve is a very knowledgable local naturalist and a member of the committee of Friends of Adel Woods. He has many years of experience of working in Adel Woods and studying their flora and fauna.
This was a talk which Steve initially arranged with Alwoodley 2030 with the support of Friends of Adel Woods. Alwoodley 2030 is a community-driven initiative to make Alwoodley zero carbon, nature positive and socially just by 2030.
Examining bark on a tree in Alwoodley Plantation
Having given a brief introductory talk about the ecology of the area and the variety of habitats in Adel Woods, Steve led us into Crag Lane and then to the right into Alwoodley Plantation – an area where there are a number of Scots Pine, beech and larch trees, presumably planted for commercial purposes: the main species of trees to be found elsewhere in Adel Woods are holly, birch, oak and sycamore.
The former quarry in Alwoodley Plantation
Within Adel Woods there are many outcrops of rock and Steve took us to have a look at a former quarry within the plantation.
The flowers of one of the many brambles or blackberry plants in Adel Woods
From there we went to have a look at our very own scheduled monument within Adel Woods- a Romano-British carving of a human figure on an outcrop of rock. It is in fact the only known example of Romano-British rock carving in West Yorkshire. The figure is holding a shield and spear and it is believed, from the style of the carving, to represent the Celtic deity Cocidius, a warrior god worshipped in northern England a the time of the Romans.
Inspecting the carving of Cocidius
If you look very carefully to the right of our young explorer’s head you can see a carved head, shoulder and a shield.
From there we went to look at Alwoodley or Adel Crag.
Alwoodley Crag (also known as Adel Crag)
In a 1963 interview, the sculptor Henry Moore said that the landscapes that most influenced his work were the slag heaps of Castleford and Adel Rock (ie Adel Crag). For more information, have a look at this article on the website of the Tate Art Gallery: tate.org.uk.
From Adel Crag we walked down to the orchid or cricket meadow, home for a couple of thousand common spotted orchids – though unfortunately they were difficult to see from a distance due to the height of the grass.
Steve has led Friends of Adel Woods in doing a lot of work to preserve the meadow over the last ten years – see 12th August 2023
Common spotted orchids in the orchid or cricket meadow on the 30th June 2024
Finally, we walked down to have a look at Adel Pond, breeding ground for many frogs and palmate newts.
In the last fourteen years, each Autumn Friends of Adel Woods have dredged the pond and cleared ditches around it, initially under Steve’s leadership, and now with our new local ranger, David Preston.
Steve explains the history of Adel PondAdel Pond on 30th June 2024
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 is on Saturday the 20th July 2024 when we will be litterpicking and clearing scrub and bracken from around the Buck Stone.
Our next educational event will be on Sunday the 21st July 2024 from 2 to 4 pm when Steve Joul will be leading a stream and pond 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.
A pleasant morning and a good turn out of twelve volunteers.
Five of our volunteers chose to litterpick – including two from Litter Free Leeds! Between them they picked up about four bags of rubbish.
The rest of us helped David Preston, our local ranger, to dredge Adel Pond (also known as Mill Fall pond). This pond is man-made and was dug to supply water to a flax mill that once operated here. The pond fell into disuse and silted up until about thirty years ago when Steve Joul led a team of volunteers in digging it out again. It is now a wonderful habitat for frogs and newts and all sorts of aquatic insects.
Dredging the pond has been an annual task for Friends of Adel Woods every Autumn since (and including) 2009. The first thing we have to do every year is clear out the many large logs and rocks which somehow find their way into the pond. Many are concealed under the water and a bit of a tripping hazard. Fortunately, there was only one minor mishap today!
Once the logs and rocks have been removed, it is a question of digging up silt and putting it into buckets to transport away. Today we had four diggers in the pond, and one principal barrowman.
The pond is fed on the north side by a single ditch bringing in a stream of water throughout the year. Unfortunately, the stream also brings in lots of mud and clay as can be seen in the photos.
It is important, therefore, to clear as much mud and leaves from the ditch as possible and three volunteers focused on this task.
Each year we find in the mud where the stream enters the pond many broken fragments of china. Presumably these are the remains of cups, saucers, jugs and plates thrown into the pond by day trippers when Verity’s Cafe, which used to stand nearby, was in it’s heyday. Or perhaps they were thrown in when Verity’s closed down. This year, one item seemed to be a complete vase but unfortunately it shattered into many fragments as yours truly lifted it out of the mud.
At noon, we ceased work to wash down the equipment before heading home for a shower and a nice Sunday lunch.
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, and we also put on educational events.
If you would like to take part in our activities or be added to our mailing list, please get in touch by leaving a comment on our website. Our next event is on Saturday the 4th November when we will be litterpicking and working on Adel Bog with David Preston.
Friends of Adel Woods 