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A wonderful turn out of about a dozen of us to litter pick and to clear saplings from the moor.

All the hard work of the last few years by FOAW and by various other groups who have worked on the moor is now bearing in fruit: there are a lot fewer established saplings to clear, and much of the work can be done by pulling up seedlings of a couple of years old.  Between us we probably removed several hundred seedlings and saplings.

The weather was fine and it was a really enjoyable morning.

Your correspondent kept an eye open for a lizard scampering away through the undergrowth, but the crafty critters laid low.  Better luck next time!

Having completed work on the moor, your correspondent and Steph went off to clear away a tree which had fallen over a path.  As is often the case, what seemed to be a five minute job, turned into a forty minute one, but we had the satisfaction of knowing that we had improved the lives of the dog walkers of Alwoodley.

There was a good turn out at Old Leo’s bar for our AGM, and the Chair took the opportunity to show the new pond gloves which should have arrived in time for our event on 19 April.  The minutes of the 2014 AGM were approved, and the Chair and Treasurer gave their reports.  The Chair’s report is set out below.  The Treasurer reported that we are in a good financial position for the foreseeable future.

Nominations for officers and committee took place, the following being the result:

Chair:  Roger Gilbert;   Treasurer:  Judith White

Secretary: Stephanie Clarke   Auditor: David Hall

Committee (in addition to the above, and in no particular order):

Rob Hall;   David Smith;   David Hampshire;  Tom Swire;   Brian Joyce

Thank you to everyone who attended.  Thank you to all the officers and committee members who have served last year and volunteered to serve this coming year.  Thank you finally to Old Leo’s Rugby Club for letting us use their bar for the AGM.

The Chair’s report

It has been another varied, interesting and enjoyable year.

If you have not had a look at the blog, I think that it is well worth doing so. I find it amazing how much we have done together, and I get very happy feelings looking at the pictures and reading the reports of our achievements.

Events

We have two kinds of events: the tasks (the playing out in the woods events) and the educational events (the playing out in the woods events!). In both, we are incredibly lucky to be supported in what we do by Steve Joul, senior ranger with Leeds CC.

Educational/social events

There have been three of these over the last year:

Wildflower walk

A wildflower walk led by Steve Joul. I missed this as I was on holiday, but it was a great success, attended by 15 adults and a number of children. Over 70 species of flowers were spotted.

Adel Bunker

Last June, one of our members generously gave the opportunity to visit the mythical Adel Bunker and about 16 of us took the opportunity. It was a very interesting visit and we are very grateful to our member. Contrary to myth, it was not a nuclear bunker or anything similar: it was built by one of the Leeds Building Societies in WWII to store deeds!

Birdsong walk

Steve Joul led a birdsong walk last Sunday. However, unusually, the weather was not kind and it rained persistently. Whilst human beings were out and about, most of the birds decided to pull the duvet over their heads and stay at home. It was also very difficult to hear the birds over the drumming of raindrops on leaves.

Nevertheless, in a sense, the event was a great success: 9 people attended despite the fact that it was raining persistently, proving that the Friends of Adel Woods love their birdsong.

Tasks

Firstly, there has been our regular litterpicking whose importance cannot be overstated. Litterpicking makes a huge difference to the woods – for example, in January we collected 10 bags of litter in an hour and in our last two tasks we collected about 26 bags of litter in all! I haven’t kept a tally but we must have picked up well over 60 bags of litter over the year.

Adel Moor

Over the last year we have had two mornings working on Adel Moor (May and August) and – in conjunction with the other groups who work on the moor – we are now seeing a huge improvement – a lot of the young saplings have gone and there is lots of new heather coming up. I know that Steve Joul is very pleased indeed with the progress that is being made.

Path improvements

Path clearance has been another regular task. Over the last year Friends have worked on improving paths – clearing mud, cutting back branches and removing fallen trees – on 6 occasions.

Adel Bog

Bog Asphodel

In 2011 BTCV cleared a lot of purple moor grass from Adel Bog, paid for in part by Leeds CC and the Parish Council. We have continued that work – removing a lot of large birch trees around the perimeter and clearing a lot of encroaching vegetation such as brambles which were slowly turning the bog into dry land. We spent one morning last June clearing brambles and the work is definitely paying off: bog plants are returning and I was pleased to see last year that a flag iris had appeared.

Nest boxes

It’s a long way down!

We had two days out in January surveying the nest boxes and the good news is that they were almost all used. You can feel pleased that there is a good chance that the great tits and blue tits in the woods were reared in a FOAW nestbox!

The Buck Stone

Three years ago we did two days work on the Buck Stone and made it accessible to the public again. on 21 March we spent a further day clearing brambles and bracken and there are some fine pictures on the blog.

The hospice woodland

Teamwork!

We had one session working on the Hospice Woodland with Steve Joul – thinning out the trees as they have been planted too close together. A very enjoyable and productive morning

Adel Pond

Adel Pond is one of our regular jobs now. In September 6 of us got down and dirty clearing silt out of the pond and we made a big difference. It is looking great at the moment.

Nanny Beck

We had our second Nanny Beck event this Spring when in April we cleared a lot of the debris and rubbish from Nanny Beck.

The Christmas Garlands:

We had another session making Christmas garlands for sale to raise funds and we raised about £100.

Fundraising

Currently, we have sufficient funds to meet our expenses.

The future

We will be publishing our calendar of forthcoming events shortly. We will be having the usual variety of tasks. Our next event is this Saturday the 16th May when we will be litterpicking and working on Adel Moor!

We have plans for a number of educational or social events. On Sunday 14 June, Alan Yarker, who is a local small holder will give a talk to Friends, and following that Steve will lead volunteers in surveying a meadow on Alan’s smallholding.

We will be having a bat walk in August and a tree walk with Steve Joul in October.

Thanks

So in summary, I would just like to end by thanking all the people we need to thank for supporting us over the last year.

First of all, I would like to thank Steve Joul for all the support – and tuition – he has given us over the year.

I would like to thank Alwoodley Parish Council and our local city councillors for their financial support and encouragement.

I really must thank Tony and Old Leo’s for letting us use their facilities for making the Christmas garlands and have our AGM here. Please after the meeting, can you please drink as much as you can so that they’ll have us again!

I would like to thank our committee and officers for all their support and hard work over the year.

And finally, I would like to thank all our wonderful Friends – whether here or absent – for the hard work you have all put in over the year. I hope that tonight’s summary has reminded you of some happy mornings or evenings and shown you that you have all made a fantastic improvement to the state of Adel Woods and to our local community.

Thank you!

It was not an auspicious start to International Dawn Chorus day:  more like “International Downpouring Day”! Nevertheless, nine people joined Steve Joul in Old Leo’s carpark for our annual birdsong walk.  One, our treasurer, was suffering from the lurgi and left after collecting contributions to the running of FOAW.  And then there were eight.

The triumph of hope over experience

We set off into the woods to the north of Old Leo’s clubhouse.  Steve soon found some interesting fungi and we sighted a greater spotted woodpecker,  but it was not a great morning for birdsong.  Most of our local birds clearly had more sense than the birdspotters and sheltered at home.  When they did sing, it was hard to hear them over the constant hammering of the rain.

We continued up to the Hospice Woodland, through Alwoodley Plantation and down to the beginning of Crag Lane, before returning to the rugby club carpark.  As we went, the numbers slowly dwindled in the persistent downpour until there were only five of us when we threw in the towel at 8.30am.

Despite the challenging conditions, we enjoyed our walk and were able to spot or hear the following:  wood pigeon; robin; crow; greater spotted woodpecker; great tit; blue tit; chaffinch; blackbird; bullfinch; blackcap; and nuthatch (we usually spot or hear over twenty species).

Respect to the people who were camping in the fields for Old Leo’s rugby sevens and beer festival – and to those cycling in the final day of the first Tour de Yorkshire!

A great turn out of thirteen of us to litter pick through out the woods and clear rubbish and blockages  from Nanny Beck.

Altogether we cleared about fourteen bags of rubbish  and litter – yes fourteen – which is an amazing amount in two hours of work.  It is also a shocking figure in that we picked up twelve bags of litter and rubbish only a month ago.  Respect to everyone who helped today!

Before…

Turning to Nanny Beck – the stream which runs past Tesco’s, under King Lane, and alongside Buckstone Road – this has the potential to be a tremendous feature of our parish.  However, through years of neglect it has become blocked up with rubbish, and  fallen trees and branches, and is almost invisible.

…after – the log was the last item to be removed

Our mission today was to take the first step in clearing away some of the detritus.

We started on a stretch about two thirds of the way down Buckstone Road, where a tree had fallen across the beck and then moved downstream and upstream from there.

We were able to clear about fifty yards of some of the sticks, logs, rubbish and mud and there was some reward for our work in that a female mallard turned up and swam up and down the river!

However, there is far more to do.  To adapt the words of the great Arnold Shwarzenegger:  “We’ll be back, Nanny Beck!”

Excuse the mud on the camera lens!

Wow, what a turn out!

We met like grey squirrels – bright eyed and bushy tailed – at 10 am at the Slabbering Baby entrance to the woods.

After our customary greetings, banter and chatting, Mary, Steph and Jen set to litterpicking – beginning with removing litter from Nanny Beck.  Later, they moved on to the copse opposite Tesco’s, the recreation ground, and Crag Lane, and by the end of the morning had picked up about twelve bags of rubbish – a tremendous achievement.

The rest of us set off to the Buck Stone where we found David, Tina and Rob and others waiting for us.  Noted local historian Steven Burt tells me that the Buck Stone:

The Buck Stone: March 2012

“… was a noted landmark in the eighteenth century and does appear prominently on the map of the commons prepared for the Lane Fox family when they were in dispute with John Dixon of Gledhow Hall c.1770, who claimed this land as being in the manor of Chapel Allerton. However, it is not a land boundary marker and I can only think that the name must relate to the deer that still haunt the woods. Was it a particular gathering point for a cull?

“In the material I collected on the Todd family who cleared the common in that area there is no mention of it having any significance other than that of a landmark. “

Some of our group remember their imaginations being fired as they climbed on the Buck Stone as children, and three years ago we spent two days restoring the Buck Stone removing as much as we could of an oak tree which all but obscured it.  You can find an account of our work in this blog for March 2012.

The renascent oak tree

The oak tree is still there and we cut back some of the branches which were reappearing, cleared moss from the Buck Stone, picked up litter and cleared brambles which were growing over and around the stone.

Rob remembers that in his childhood there was a smaller rock just in front of the Buck Stone.  This was not visible today and it could be the object of an archaeological dig on another occasion.

The task of removing the brambles and other plants was a much bigger one than anticipated by your correspondent (an hour’s work for three of us!) and even after two hours work by twelve of us there was more we could have done.  Nevertheless, we achieved a great deal and can be proud of our achievement.  Another generation of children will enjoy the Buck Stone.  Let us hope that in fifty years they too will look back with fond memories  of happy adventures as they clear away the brambles.

It is not just the Buck Stone that rocks.  The Friends of Adel Woods Rock too!!

I know – your correspondent is showing his age!

Teamwork!

The weather was overcast but dry, and there was a good turn out to help Steve Joul thin the trees in the Hospice Woodland.  We also took the opportunity to pick up litter from the grass verge of Stairfoot Lane – and gathered three large bags, including an old laptop.

Teamwork!

Turning to the lumberjacking, a mature woodland tree needs about 10 metres between it and its neighbours to thrive.  The trees in the Hospice Woodland were planted perhaps three metres apart or even less and they are now growing into each other and competing for light.

Steve demonstrated how to cut down a tree using a bow saw and told us what to do with the trunks and off-cuttings and we then set to.

We probably removed about thirty trees which were growing into or overshadowed by other trees and there is no doubt that the trees which we left looked a lot happier – in the sense that they clearly had about five metres space around them in which to grow.

That’s the way you do it!

A lot more work needs to be done to complete the job, but we will not be felling any more trees until the Autumn or next Spring, because we are now entering the nesting season (great tits have been investigating the nest box in our garden!).

Thank you to everyone – including Alan who brought us two bags of rubbish from  Stairfoot Lane and David who rose from his sickbed to come and entertain us!

The story so far…

[To be read in an excited American accent] Yesterday, an elite team guided by Steve Joul courageously began the survey of the thirty five nest boxes put up by the Friends of Adel Woods in the early years of the 21st century. With true grit,  determination and superb teamwork, they surveyed all the nest boxes north of Crag Lane and the nest boxes on the Meanwood Valley Trail between the Stairfoot Lane car park and Adel Pond, discovering along the way that most of the tit boxes had been used last breeding season, but that the robin boxes had either not been used or been used by tits.  With gritty determination, Steve and your correspondent were ready to complete the task the next day….

Is there anything in it?

A cold but fine day and a new team of enthusiasts joined Steve Joul and your correspondent this morning to complete the nest box survey.  Beginning at the Slabbering Baby, we made our way down to the Seven Arches, finding and cleaning the nest boxes, and noting their contents.  Again, almost all of the titboxes had been used – showing that the restraint on numbers of tits in Adel Woods is availability of nest sites rather than availability of food.

For yet another year, the proud birds of Adel Woods can sleep easy, knowing that there are going to be plenty of homes for them this Spring!

It’s a long way down!

Getting ready!

On a cold but fine day, three of us met up with Steve Joul to begin the annual survey of our nest boxes.

This involves climbing ladders to lift down the tit boxes, cleaning them out, noting the contents and returning them to their original position.  With the robin boxes, the main issue is finding them as we put them up in the middle of holly thickets!

We surveyed the nest boxes along and to the north of Crag Lane.  As usual, most of the  tit boxes had been used in 2015. Some of the robin boxes had been used by tits, but not robins.

Full results to be published when your correspondent pulls his

This looks a good one!

finger out!

Spot Tina litterpicking at Adel Crag!

Our first event of the year, saw a surprise fall of snow overnight.  Despite, quite a heavy and wet snow fall at 8.30 am, a great turn out of eight!

We split into two teams – litter pickers and path clearers.  The litter pickers were Chris, Jen, Rob, Tina and Pippa.

The rest of us, Brian, James, Andrew and your correspondent removed a fallen tree from the path above the Stairfoot Lane carpark, and another from just above the cottage on Crag Lane.

No Christmas trees were harmed in the making of this picture

Having spent an hour in the fresh air, we returned to your correspondent’s house to continue the fun.  Brian and Chris each took home three Christmas wreaths to dismantle for recycling for  next December’s wreath making.

Andrew, Jen and your correspondent worked for an hour on cleaning and refurbishing eight nest boxes in readiness for next weekend’s surveying event – these were nest boxes which we took down from their trees last January because there were in need of repair.

All in all a very successful morning’s work.

December is a busy time of year, but to keep up the momentum, we put on a litter pick from 10 till 11 am.

About ten of us turned up on a misty morning and in the space of an hour cleared at least ten bin bags of rubbish from Old Leo’s carpark, Crag Lane, the Sqairfoot Lane carpark, the recreation ground and the woods in general.

A big thank you to everyone who helped.

Who ya gonna call? Litter busters!