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Six of us accompanied Steve Joul in surveying birdboxes along the Meanwood Valley trail – from the Slabbering Baby to the Seven Arches, while Michelle did some litterpicking.  Again most of the boxes had been used.  Perhaps the most surprising find was when Steve opened box number 30 and a blue tit which had been resting inside flew out!

Everyone else left by 1 pm, but Steve and your correspondent completed the survey by cleaning the boxes from the Slabbering Baby up to the cricket pitch.  Again most of the boxes had been used.  A special find was that one of the boxes  (number 47, south of the cricket field) had been used by a nuthatch.  It had used mud to fill in the cracks around the roof and the nesting material was all birch bark chippings .  That it was a nuthatch nest was later confirmed by an almost identical picture on the internet.

Nuthatch nest

The results of our surveys will be posted on our website shortly.

The day started very windy and overcast, but by 2 pm it was a truly glorious Spring day and it seems likely that the blue tits and great tits are already getting ready for this years breeding season.

Another amazing turn out of fifteen this morning.

Some of us litterpicked while the rest cleared the mud from the Stairfoot Lane steps, the steps by the pond and from parts of Crag Lane.

An artistic picture

This afternoon Steve Joulled a happy group of Friends in making Christmas Garlands and Yule Logs.  As can be seen from the picture, the end results were stunning – though this particular reveller seems to have got carried away by her enthusiasm!

“Calm down dear! It’s only a Christmas garland!”

On a rainy and overcast morning, ten friends helped Steve Joul to survey the bird boxes put up by FOAW in January 2010.  We split into two groups – one, with the ladder and Steve, to survey the boxes aloft, the other to find and survey the robin boxes.

Steve’s team won by 13 to nil.  In other words, thirteen of the fifteen boxes they surveyed contained nests.  Of the other two, one had not been used, and the other had been used but contained only droppings.

The robin team could only find three of the four robin boxes:  despite extensive and intensive searching box no 6 remained elusive – but there again we were not able to find it in November/December 2010!  Disappointingly, the three we did find showed no evidence of use, save that two contained wood chippings and it was clear that the chippings in one came from the inside of the entrance of the box.  Very mysterious!

The robin team took the opportunity to pick up two bin liners of rubbish – despite a lack of litter pickers – because a member of the committee who shall remain nameless had them ;-\

A very special morning!  What started off as misty and damp Autumn morning turned into a beautiful day.

Including Steve Joul, we had 22 friends this morning – a record.

Some of us did some litterpicking, a task made memorable for two reasons.  Firstly someone had kindly dumped 20 old tyres in the woods by Crag Lane.  Secondly, we found two stashes of bottled and canned Carlsberg in perfectly drinkable condition.  These have been saved for future refreshments.

Some of us did tree clearance work on the moor – which is looking great.  The area which someone set fire to early this year is regenerating very nicely.

Last but not least, some of us worked on the pond, removing invasive species, dredging silt, and clearing the stream feeding it.  A muddy but very satisfying task which made a huge difference!

Who painted that beard and moustache on Steve!?

Richard Wilson, the spider recorder for Leeds passed by and introduced himself, and Steve Joul brought along Paul Brothers who records moths and butterflies and has written a book on ladybirds.  A triumvirate of rare distinction – Autumnwatch eat your heart out!

Amazingly Paul spotted a red admiral fluttering about in the midday sunshine, which is amazing for the latter half of November!

Finally, your correspondent found a ladies wallet which he took to Weetwood Police Station.  M if you are reading this, your cards were still in it, so pop along to Weetwood if they have not contacted you yet.

More exciting than an episode of Strictly Come Dancing!

Doug Simpson OBE

Doug Simpson MBE, co-ordinator for the red kite project in Harewood, enthralled a capacity audience at St Barnabas’s church hall with a fascinating and amusing talk about red kites (his 201st!).

After the talk many of the audience stayed for refreshments and a chat with old friends and new acquaintances.

Doug and Steve Joul reminisce!

A wonderful evening for everyone which raised £300 for the work of Friends of Adel Woods.  FOAW would like to thank Alwoodley Parish Council which generously sponsored the talk.

A big thank you too to the members of the FOAW committee who worked hard to make the evening such a success.

Tree work on Adel Bog

A beautiful morning.

There were three teams of us today.  David and Rob cleared a fallen tree.  Judith, Ade and Brian did some litterpicking before joining the rest of us clearing saplings from around the northern perimeter of the bog and removing tree stumps from the bog itself.  The aim is to reduce the amount of water being lost from the bog through being sucked up by trees.

The northern side of the bog is very dry.  However, the southern side of the bog, which is down hill from the northern side, is now a true bog in the sense that it is very muddy and water oozes out when you stand on it.  Reeds are beginning to shoot in this area and it is looking very encouraging.

We have now made a big impression on the bog and we need to see how it responds to the winter rains.  Your correspondent’s guess is that the next step is to remove more trees from around the perimeter, and to increase the wet area on the southern area by lowering the ground level of the adjacent area to the north.

Thank you to Mark and the BTCV volunteers who did a further day’s work on Adel Bog – a day of constant rain and drizzle.  Respect!  The focus today was on clearing the bog of purple moor grass and brambles. The next step is to clear saplings from the body and the perimeter of the bog.

One of the volunteers dug a trial hole to find the depth of the water table, and it is about 45 centimetres below the surface.  We could see the water trickling into the hole.

We now need over the next year to monitor the effects of the work we have done so far.

Thanks to the eight Friends who came along on this first Sunday of Autumn – egged along no doubt by the tantalising smell of bacon sandwiches coming from Old Leo’s.

Before…

Several bags of litter were picked, and major work was done on widening the path along Crag Lane  which has become narrower and narrower over the last couple of years.

Of course, there was also time to chat and set the world to rights!

…and after.

Looking North from the Southern boundary of the bog

Your correspondent, David and Tom met Steve Joul this morning to have a look at Adel Bog.  We are all impressed by the work done by BTCV and discussed the additional work FOAW can do at our event on Saturday 22 October.

By then BTCV will have done a further two days work bringing the total to nine days.