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Eleven of us met in Old Leo’s clubhouse on a fine morning for our annual Christmas Garlands event.

In a relaxed atmosphere, we chatted, drank coffee, ate mince pies and listened to Christmas music as we threaded leylandii sprigs into pre-prepared rings and decorated them with pine cones, holly and baubles.

The Garlands are very popular and we had orders for sixteen from last years customers.

A big thank you to everyone who helped to make the garlands, and to Old Leo’s for letting us use their clubhouse.  Special mentions in despatches are due to David,  Brian  and Stephanie – David and Brian who helped the previous Saturday to  prepare for the event by dismantling and recycling some of last year’s garlands and for making more of the bases.  Thank you too to David for pre-preparing some garlands, and providing some of the leylandii, and to Brian for making half a dozen excellent ring bases and for purchasing copious supplies of wire before the event. Thank you to Stephanie for completing many beautiful garlands to fulfil the hopes and dreams of our enthusiastic supporters.

A selection of garlands made this year

The first task after Guy Fawkes night, and also the first time that we have shared the woods with a major orienteering event!

On arrival at Old Leo’s car park your correspondent had to negotiate with the marshalls who were keen to send him back to King Lane with a car full of tools.  However, a bit of assertiveness and consummate diplomacy and your correspondent was able to park around the back of the clubhouse – once a bulldozer had removed the remains of last week’s bonfire.

The weather was dark and very damp, yet we still managed a turn out of six – though one Friend went home before we actually started!

We started off by clearing the drainage channels near the picnic area and removing a large quantity of mud.  Historically, this was always a quagmire in rainy weather until FOAW put a drainage pipe in and built up some of the path with hardcore – which for the younger readers, if we have any, is a kind of building aggregate used for forming a solid base.

Having cleared away the mud we went along to the Stairfoot Lane carpark and cleared a large amount of mud from the path and dug a drainage channel to let water drain away from the path.

Thence towards the steps down to the beck, pausing on the way to widen the path which was reduced to about 18″ in width by brambles and nettles.  As the rest of us did this, Steph gathered a bin bag of rubbish from the carpark.

Finally we cleared the steps of leaves and generally tidied them up.  As we did this we gave encouragement to the few orienteers who passed our way.

As we finished, your correspondent congratulated the Friends on their great achievements during the morning and said that they could go home and enjoy a well-earned Sunday lunch.  Regrettably, it was a Saturday!

Three work teams today.

Chris delighted us with her return from sabbatical and picked litter.  She, Rob and Tina (who were also out litter picking) made a huge difference to the woods but Chris was disappointed that she did not find anything interesting – like a stash of money.

Andrew, David and Beth went off to cut back holly on the path running along the stream and to remove a fallen tree from there and another fallen tree on a path up to the moor.

Your correspondent and the rest of the team spent the morning widening Crag Lane and succeeded in working on the stretch from the clubhouse to the picnic area.  In stretches, this once proud thoroughfare had been reduced to a mere three feet or so in width.

The day started cool but by lunchtime it had turned into a really lovely day.

While waiting on Buckstone Road for the Friends to arrive, your correspondent spotted this beautiful butterfly enjoying the sun.  It is a comma and the more studious reader will recall that on the 13th August 2013, we spotted a comma caterpillar in the vicinity – see here!  Perhaps today’s butterfly was the adult of that very caterpillar!  [NB if you click on the photographs, you will see larger versions].

Before…

Our tasks today were threefold.  Judith went off litter picking.  Brian, Tom and Beth cleared the path by the Slabbering Baby, which had been reduced to about three feet in width, and then went off litter picking.  Last, but not least,  a team of six of us helped Steve Joul dredge the pond of silt.

…after!

As usual, the pond dredging task proved extremely muddy – which seemed to enhance the pleasure of it for certain members of the team.  Three of us were in the pond, in newly purchased waders loaned to us by Leeds CC,  filling plastic trugs with mud, and three of us were on the bank taking the trugs away and emptying them nearby.  Ade was a star turn, managing to find numerous large logs which had been dumped in the middle of the pond.  However, concern was expressed that his clothes might clog up his mother’s washing machine unless rinsed clean of copious amounts of mud beforehand.

The sight of us in the pond caused a number of people to stop and ask what we were doing.  Let’s hope the publicity brings us more volunteers.

Yet another beautiful morning in the woods and a very satisfying sense of achievement.

Another good turn out and yet another beautiful morning.

Mary and Graham picked up litter on Crag Lane, Buck Stone Road and the copse opposite Tesco’s, while five of us headed off down to the Seven Arches to clear vegetation from the Meanwood Valley Trail.

In an hour and a half we managed to make a massive difference – completely opening up the path from two or three feet wide to seven or eight feet.

Before…

…and after!

From experience, if we only cut back vegetation by a foot or so, it grows back even further in a year.  We therefore cut the vegetation right back and where the main culprit was brambles, we pulled them up by the roots as far as we could.

Before…

…and after

We all enjoyed ourselves and felt a great sense of achievement.

The Meanwood Valley Trail, by the Seven Arches

Your correspondent does not know how the Friends of Adel Woods do it, but we did it again:  torrential rain on Friday evening, torrential rain on Sunday morning, but a glorious day on Saturday for a team of thirteen to litterpick and help Steve Joul clearing tree saplings from Adel Moor.

Common lizard found on the moor in April this year

To remind you why we clear saplings, Adel Moor is the last bit of original heathland in Leeds and is a unique habitat, home to moorland species including the common lizard.  If we did not clear the saplings, the moor would be birch and oak woodland in a matter of years – the number of tree seedlings and saplings is amazing.  The birch saplings need to be dug up by the roots:  if we merely cut them down, they come back even thicker – as shown by the many thriving coppiced birch trees.

Pride in achievement!

Our team self selected into two groups:  those who did the important task of prevention, pulling up hundreds of seedlings by hand; and those who felt in need of hard exercise, digging up coppiced trees with mattocks and spades.

In the morning sunshine, the moor – and in particular the heather – looked magnificent.  The FOAW and the many other groups who have worked on the moor over recent years can be very proud of their achievements.

Unfortunately we did not find any lizards this morning, but Geoff did find interesting galls on oak seedlings on the margin of the moor and the surrounding trees- see the picture below.

Unfortunately, your usual correspondent was unable to take part in today’s activities and had to delegate the task upwards to She who must always be obeyed (“Barbara”).

It was a very wet morning, but nevertheless there was a turn out of four strapping men (David, Andrew, Brian and Tom) who joined She who must etc to pick up litter and to clear paths.  The litter was particularly bad in the area where Crag Lane meets the lane down to the cricket pitch because a public minded individual had generously deposited the detritus of a party in that area.

It is always refreshing to hear a new voice with new and original ways of looking at things in a blog like this.  Here is Barbara’s take on the morning’s work.

Barbara’s blog

Always heed the omens!

On leaving the house to join the FOAW team for Saturday’s tasks, I noticed a ringed racing pigeon taking refuge from the heavy deluge and previous night’s stormy weather. Was he disorientated or just tired?

The woods were damp and wet, but there was plenty of rubbish to be collected.  Musing idly on the amount of soiled tissue behind a clump of bushes, Miss Marple [ie Barbara (ed)] was reaching the decision that users of the village green must be using the area as an ‘al fresco’ toilet, when my litter picker chanced upon a full tin of Pedigree Chum. “Shame Judith is not around I thought” as I slipped it into the sack.

Progressing onward, I determined to go to the car park at Stairfoot Lane where I had heard there was much litter. Reaching the entrance I was warmly greeted by a bouncing, lively, canine who thereon adopted me as we litter picked together.  After some time, without a sign of his owner, I decided that perhaps he was lost. I pondered on this as I collected bottles, sandwich cartons and an inordinate amount of straws and other detritus. Armed as I was solely with bag and litter picker I had no way of communicating with the outer world.  I wondered idly what Roger might think if I managed to get this bundle of canine energy back into our largely open plan house, where he was running a course with serious minded therapists. Where was Judith when you needed a dog expert??

At that moment a car pulled into the car park driven by a dog walker. He too was given a warm welcome by my new canine friend. What a hero he proved to be. Both of us without our reading glasses made it tricky to read a telephone number on the collar of an excited and strong dog. Eventually we got the number but when we rang there was no response. My hero returned home with his own dogs whilst I held onto our new friend, by this time on a leash he did not relish. After ten minutes of dog sitting, being dragged around the car park numerous times, my hero returned and bundled the dog into his car and set off to drive him home.

I continued for a further half hour clearing the car park before I walked back along the path. After I had gone some way, I heard someone whistling me.  I stopped, looked round, and saw a distant figure in a red jacket. “Ah, this must be David!” I thought, so I waited as the figure approached through the rain mist. Then I discovered that it was a complete stranger with a whistle in his hand. Feeling foolish I tried to look useful with my pickers. Then the penny dropped.

“Are you looking for a dog?” I queried. Yes, indeed he was looking for a bouncing, friendly brown German Pointer. So I was able to set his mind at ease and say his dog was probably already back at his house. At which point, his relief at knowing his dog was safe, was replaced by imagining what his wife was going to say when she realised he had lost the dog!!!

A big thank from FOAW to my hero dog walker who reunited dog with owners.

The pigeon is still with us, but now preening his feathers. He too, hopefully, will be reunited with his owners.

B

Postscript

The racing pigeon recovered and set off home on Saturday afternoon.

A small but hardworking group this morning.

David went off on his own, pruning vegetation, while Judith took Steve Joul to see some orchids before litter picking, and Brian and your correspondent went down to the Bog where we were joined by Sylvia, Steve, Geoff and finally Judith.

Clearing brambles

First task was to trample the bracken at the west end of the bog.  We then settled down to clearing brambles and tree seedlings from the north east corner of the bog.

Bog Asphodel

It was a beautiful morning, the tranquil seclusion of the Bog enhanced by a proliferation of ringlet butterflies, the many flowers – heath spotted orchids, tormentil and bog asphodel among others – and the fine weather which improved throughout the morning.

Surface water on the bog

It was particularly pleasing to see that much of the Bog was very wet and had standing water on the surface – even at the north end.  There is no doubt that the work done by BTCV three years ago in removing much of the purple moor grass was a large step forward in returning the area to a boggy state.

Newly arrived flag iris!

One pleasant surprise was to find a flag iris had appeared amongst the rushes on the southern side of the Bog.  Let us hope that more arrive.

In the afternoon Steve took your correspondent to have a look at the orchids discovered by Judith.  They were in a field which neither Steve nor your correspondent had come across before (which just goes to show that there is always more to learn and discover!) and there were very many of them.

Common spotted orchids

Steve was very excited by Judith’s discovery.  They were common spotted orchids, distinguishable from the heath spotted orchids of the Bog by a small difference in the petals.

A very satisfying day!

This morning Steve Joul led FOAW’s first wildflower walk through the woods. Your correspondent was unable to attend but has heard that it was a great success – attended by 15 adults and a number of children.

Over 70 species of flower were spotted as listed below.  Since your correspondent was not there, he was unable to take any pictures – but here are a few taken by Steve on other occasions so that you can at least gain an impression of the walk.

The flowers spotted on the walk were:

Bog Asphodel; Wood Avens; Himalayan Balsam; Heath Bedstraw; Creeping Bent; Bilberry; Bird’s-foot Trefoil; Brambles; Creeping Buttercup; Meadow Buttercup; Red Campion; Greater Celandine; Creeping Cinquefoil; Cleavers;  White Clover; Cock’s Foot; Columbine; Common Couch; Daisy; Dame’s Violet; Dandelion; Red Dead-nettle; Broad-leaved Dock; Curled Dock; Elder; Enchanter’s-nightshade; Red Fescue; Foxglove; Meadow Foxtail; Common Gorse; Ground-elder; Tufted Hair-grass; Wavy Hair-grass; Bell Heather; Herb-Robert; Hogweed; Honeysuckle; Yellow Iris; Hairy Lady’s-mantle; Annual Meadow-grass; Rough Meadow-grass; Smooth Meadow-grass; Black Medick; Purple Moor-grass; Common Mouse-ear; Garlic Mustard; Hedge Mustard; Common Nettle; Nipplewort;  Wild Oat; False Oat-grass; Cow Parsley; Ribwort Plantain; Soft Rush; Toad Rush; Perennial Rye-grass; Pendulous Sedge; Snowberry; Creeping  Soft-grass; Common Sorrell; Prickly Sow-thistle; Common Spike-rush; Creeping Thistle; Purple Toadflax; Sweet Vernal Grass; Meadow Vetchling; Water-Dropwort; Broad-leaved Willowherb; Rosebay Willowherb; Field Wood-rush; Hedge Woundwort; Yorkshire Fog.