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Not exactly up at dawn, but an enthusiastic group of about 25 joined Steve Joul at 7 am for our annual bird song walk in Adel Woods.

The weather was fresh but dry, and we had a good start in the car park of Old Leo’s Rugby Club, with a good sighting of a heron flying over the playing fields.

Watching a bullfinch

We did a slightly different route from our usual one – we walked down to the cricket club and then down towards the Slabbering Baby before going up to the moor, continuing to the Buck Stone, descending to the Seven Arches and finally returning up the Meanwood Valley trail past the site of the Slabbering Baby (it is not actually there at the moment because it has been taken away for restoration), and then returning to the car park via the cricket club.

As usual we saw or heard a wide variety of birds.  Highlights for your correspondent were:

• an excellent sighting of a tree creeper.  This clung stock still to the side of a tree to the right of the path down to the Slabbering Baby.  It was so still for so long that Steve joked that it was a stuffed one we had pinned to the tree last night!  However, eventually the tree creeper snapped out of its trance and flew off
• hearing the drumming of woodpeckers throughout the walk
• down by the Seven Arches, an excellent sighting of a nuthatch which danced around the branches of a tree with gravity defying skill
• hearing the descending song of a willow warbler
• seeing a blue tit going in and out of a FOAW nest box

As usual we heard the sounds of ubiquitous chief chaffs and wrens.  Other species we saw or heard were:

• heron
• robin
• starling
• carrion crow
• thrush
• tree creeper
• jay
• wood pigeon
• bullfinch
• swift
• greater spotted woodpecker
• blackbird
• black cap
• willow warbler
• magpie
• dunnock
• blue tit
• great tit
• nuthatch

That’s 21 species in all – not bad for a couple of hours stroll!

Thanks once more to Steve Joul for a really interesting guided walk, and thanks to everyone who joined us!

Watching birds down by the Seven Arches

Your correspondent did not tell the team, but it was his birthday today!  And it was marked with excellent weather.

We met at the Slabbering Baby entrance to the woods where Mary and Chris loaded up with litter picking paraphernalia and went off to clear rubbish – removing several bags of rubbish and a bicycle.

The Buck Stone: March 2012

The rest of us went off to the Buck Stone – a land mark shown on maps two hundred and fifty years ago.  When we first worked on the Buck Stone, five years ago, it was completely obscured by an oak tree which we removed as far as we could.  The stump of the tree still survives at the Eastern end of the Buck Stone and every year it sends out shoots which we remove.

Working on the remains of the oak tree

Our task today was to remove as much of the remaining branches and stump as we could, to pick up litter in the surrounding area, and to remove as much vegetation from around the base of the Buck Stone as possible.

It was a glorious morning, working to the sound of robins, chiff chaffs, wrens and great tits.

The remaining branches of the oak tree are all

Success!

rather thick and tough to remove using bow saws.  The branch that can be seen sticking up to the right of David in the photograph, is a branch which we had tried to saw through on at least two previous occasions.  Fortunately, persistent effort paid off and today we were able to complete the task – though we still have some mighty branches to remove.  The team set to work on the next branch, but despite our best efforts – including in the end desperate efforts with an electric drill – this branch remains as solid as ever, even though we got three quarters of the way through it.

While all the sawing was going on, Brian was carefully removing grass and weeds from the Buck Stone, others were digging up brambles and other plants from around the base, and yet other members of the team were clearing brambles from nearby paths and picking up litter. It is clear from the sweet wrappers we uncovered that the original ground level around the Buck Stone was at one time rather lower than it is now.

Climbing to the summit of the Buck Stone, you find that it is a great place to sit and contemplate the world.

All in all, a very happy and successful morning, and a great way to start your correspondent’s birthday celebrations.

Another fine morning, and another fine turn out of enthusiastic Friends.

We had three tasks on the agenda today: repairing the Stairfoot Lane steps; litter picking; and tidying up the Hospice Woodland.

In total there were fourteen of us this morning, and we split into three groups. Your

Feb 2011

correspondent joined the party repairing the Stairfoot Lane steps.

The steps were first constructed by volunteers from the British Trust for Conservation in February 2011 and were funded by Leeds City Council.  Before that, there were no steps – just a rather steep and muddy bank which was rather hazardous to negotiate, far steeper than this photograph would suggest (if you click on the photo you can see a bigger version by the way).

After six years two of wooden risers near the top of the steps had rotted away and with the assistance of materials provided by Leeds City Council, your band of gallants replaced them in half an hours work.

Having repaired the steps and generally tidying them up – removing leaves and clearing away accumulated mud, we returned to the car park where some of us set about clearing some flytipping.  It is astonishing how the existence of a fence suggests to the human mind that if things are thrown over the fence, that somehow means that they are no longer a problem!

A light bulb moment for our team!

From the carpark to the Hospice Woodland to join the team clearing brambles smothering the trees, and to clear the paths.

Our task here was not to clear away all the brambles – they provide a wonderful habitat for small animals and for birds like whitethroats – but to remove them from trees, to widen footpaths and to clear them away from clumps of daffodils.

The Friends did a magnificent job.  Yet again, another lovely morning, and it was wonderful to hear the birdsong – mainly great tits but your correspondent heard his first chiffchaff of the year!

A very pleasant morning – still cool, but very mild.  So much so that some of us had a drink sitting outside Old Leo’s bar after our labours.

Lots of birdsong in the woods – particularly from great tits.  A passerby told us that great spotted woodpeckers could be heard near the Stairfoot Lane carpark.

Today’s tasks were litter picking and path clearing.  We had a great team of litter pickers – Mary, Chris, Tina, Rob, Judith, Graham and Barbara who set off to various areas of the woods to clear litter – while eight of us set off as a group to clear paths.

The seven litter pickers did a great job – which also entailed clearing a lot of flytipping in Stairfoot Lane.

The path clearing team of eight started with the path, just past Old Leo’s clubhouse at right angles to Crag Lane. Having widened the southern stretch of this path by several feet, we worked our way along Crag Lane, widening two or three areas where holly was narrowing the pathway.

Thence to the picnic area, with the intention of working our way down the Meanwood Valley Trail.  However, when we reached the picnic area our attention was caught by the path heading westward, just by the picnic table: it looked as if it was overgrown and difficult to walk.  We set to enthusiastically and had soon cleared and widened the first 30 yards or so, removing a fallen tree trunk from the path, and many branches at high level in case horse riders use the path.  Beyond 30 yards the path was clear.

From there we returned to the picnic area and set off down the Meanwood Valley trail, cutting back holly and removing fallen timber for about one hundred yards.

At 12.05 pm we packed up our tools and returned to Old Leo’s car park – where five of us decided to sample the delights of the local hostelry.

All in all, a very enjoyable and satisfying two hours work!

Our first morning of litter picking and path clearing for a couple of months  – and  there was a lot of rubbish in the woods today.

There were nine of us t and we began with about 40 minutes of litter picking around Old Leo’s, along Crag Lane and down towards the cricket club.  We picked up many bags of rubbish and made a huge difference to the appearance of the woods.

Litter picking

Your correspondent could write much about the litter which we find in the woods.  One category which is particularly irksome comes from the habit of  some dog walkers to pick up dog poo in plastic bags but then to throw the bags into the undergrowth or hang them up on trees or bushes.  Presumably, they bag up the poo so that they can appear to be doing the right thing, and then dispose of the bag when they think that no one can see them.  If you are a dog walker and  have been doing this, please continue to bag up your dog’s poo, but please take it home and dispose of it properly.  The Friends of Adel Woods find it extremely yucky to have to pick up wet and slimy bags of poo.

A new kind of litter first appeared in January of this year:  lots of deflated balloons and small glass phials.  Apparently, these are the detritus from a new fashion of substance abuse – the inhaling of laughing gas.  When surveying the nest boxes earlier this month we found balloons and phials in the woods near the rugby clubhouse.  Today there were about 25 of the glass phials deposited in the car park.  Let us hope that this is a short-lived craze.

On a brighter note, we also found £1.15 which we have added to FOAW funds!

Path Clearing

Before …

Leaving Steph to continue litter picking, the rest of us set off to  the very top end of the woods to remove a tree which had fallen across the path and to cut back the encroaching holly.

Half an hour of hard work and the job was done.

…and after

We then walked back to the Stairfoot Lane carpark, and set off along the path which runs parallel to and below Crag Lane.  There a real whopper of a tree had come down.  After careful evaluation of the job we were able to saw it up and remove it from the path.

As we did this, Chris and Sylvia cut holly back from the path.

Before…

By now it was 12.10 pm and we set off back to Old Leo’s carpark but 50 yards along, we found another tree lying across our path.  We agreed to remove this and were able to cut it up and drag it into the undergrowth in about five minutes of focused work.

…and after

We all agreed that we had had a very productive and successful morning in the woods.

The weather throughout the morning was very pleasant.  To our surprise, a few flakes of icy snow began to fall as we got into our cars.

Say “Trees”!

Yesterday we cleaned and surveyed eighteen nest boxes.  Only thirteen left to do this morning!  Fortunately, the remaining ones were all in a straight line down the Meanwood Valley Trail between the Slabbering Baby and the Seven Arches, which makes them much easier to find.

Another perfect day for the task but a smaller team – Steve Joul and three assistants for the first hour and two assistants after that (as your correspondent had to leave for a funeral).

Of the thirteen nest boxes, one was a robin box which could not be found.  All the rest of the boxes (including a starling or treecreeper box) were used by tits.

In case you are wondering what a starling or treecreeper box is, here is a picture.  It is a lot deeper than a tit box and the entrance is on the side of the box, next to the tree trunk.   The tit nest is right at the bottom of the box and it is amazing to think of young great tits or blue tits climbing their way up to the exit when it is time for them to leave the nest.  Since this picture was taken, the nest box has been improved by the addition of a metal plate around the entrance and a plastic roof and back.

View of a tit nest

One of the tit boxes seems to have been used at least temporarily by a pair of nuthatches because the lid was plastered with mud.  However, the nest inside was a tit nest of moss, grass, fur and hair, rather than a nuthatch nest of wood chips.

All in all, another great morning’s work.

Thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s nest box cleaning and surveying, and thanks of course to Steve Joul for sharing all his amazing knowledge and skills.

For the eighth January running, FOAW joined Steve Joul in cleaning out and surveying the nest boxes in Adel Woods.

We had a great team of seven until lunchtime, when some of us had to leave for other duties.  In the afternoon, there was a team of three.  The weather was perfect – dry, mild and no wind.  Your correspondent even worked up a sweat in the afternoon!

As usual, pretty well all of the tit boxes were used last Spring, but none of the robin boxes were used.

The robin boxes have never been used by robins (we have had the odd tit nest) and so we probably ought to think about moving them.  Currently, they are all stationed in the middle of holly bushes about two or three feet off the ground.  So very difficult and prickly to find – at least for human beings.

A multicoloured tit nest!

Every year the survey is different and this year was no exception.  It is quite usual to find the odd unhatched egg in the nesting material, and we measure the eggs to see if the nest box was used by blue tits or the larger great tits.  This year, we found a number of nests containing the skeletons of chicks – in a couple as many as five or six.  This was unusual – we have probably found no more than a couple of skeletons in total in all the previous seven years of surveying nest boxes.

Measuring eggs found in a nest box

The number of skeletons found this year seems to suggest that there were some difficulties for tits during the breeding season – presumably bad weather which meant that there was insufficient food to feed all the young.

However, it was not a disastrous season.  Blue tits typically lay about 8 to 12 eggs but sometimes lay as many as 16! Great tits typically lay 7 to 9 eggs but may lay as many as 15.  So even where a number of the young died in the nest last season, the chances are that perhaps four or five young successfully grew up and left the nest.

This year we had one nuthatch nest in our tit boxes.  Nuthatch nests are very different from tit nests which are made of moss, fur, hair and grass.  The first suggestion that a nuthatch has nested in the box is that the lid is glued down, and all gaps in the woodwork are filled,  with mud.  When opened the nest is made of lots of little chips of wood – rather like a bowl of bran flakes!  It was pleasing to have a nuthatch nest – we didn’t have any last year, though we had two a couple of years ago.  Interestingly, the nuthatch nest was in the box by the bridge near Adel Pond – the very same tree where nuthatches nested previously.

A nuthatch nest in one of our woodcrete nest boxes – unfortunately, not a clear picture, but you can see where the nuthatches have plastered mud round the rim of the nest box.

We finished work as dusk began to fall at about 4 pm, by which time we had surveyed 18 nest boxes.

Fifty one years ago, my class teacher, Mrs Evans, told us that as you get older the years go by faster. She was right. It seems like two minutes since we were in the bar of Old Leo’s Rugby Club in December 2015, making our Christmas Garlands, and here we are again in December 2016 making another batch.

We had a good turn out of elves to help make our Garlands.  There was a rugby match going on as we wrestled with leylandii and exercised our creative and aesthetic faculties, and several of the rugby fans asked us to make them a garland  – which we did for a modest contribution to our funds.

Over the next few days, there were further requests for garlands and in the end contributions of £105 were made to FOAW funds, as against expenditure of about £30.

Thanks are due to Old Leo’s not only for letting us use their bar to make the garlands, but also for generously feeding Santa’s elves with quiche, sausage rolls, bacon sandwiches and tea and coffee.  Thank you Old Leo’s!

Everyone at Friends of Adel Woods hopes that you have enjoyed your Christmas break and wishes you all happiness for 2017.

Three happy Elves

A group of happy Friends of Adel Woods met this morning to get ready for next Sunday’s Christmas Garland event – dismantling and recycling garlands returned from last year, and making more circular bases so that on the day we can just get down to some artistic creativity!

Much happy conversation, creativity and enjoyment – especially of mince pies!

It was rather wet and cold first thing this morning, but fortunately, the weather brightened up by 10 am for FOAW’s task.

Despite the cold and wet (and despite a number of apologies for other reasons) we had a turn out of five keen friends.  Barbara litter picked, while the rest of us headed up to the northern most part of the woods to clear paths.

We started off at one of the paths leading down from Stairfoot Lane, removing nettles and brambles and, near the entrance from the road, cutting back some overhanging branches to make things easier for horse riders.

We then returned to the path leading at right angles from Crag Lane up towards the hospice woodland, adjacent to the rugby practice field.  There we cleared more nettles and brambles in addition to cutting back encroaching holly.

Two hours of hard work enabled us to make a significant improvement where we worked.