A lovely morning for litterpicking and mowing the orchid meadow.
Our three litter pickers had a bumper morning, picking up five bags of litter. Starting in Buck Stone Road.
Their very first task was to pick up two large piles of dog poo on the path down to the Slabbering Baby – kudos to them for doing it, but it is something that they should really not have to do. After that, they made their way along Crag Lane to Adel Crag. The worst area for litter was around the picnic tables near Adel Crag, where assorted litter had been mown into little pieces.
Mowing the meadow with scythes
While our litter pickers were doing tasks beyond the call of duty, six of us joined David Preston, our local countryside ranger, in mowing the orchid (or cricket) meadow with scythes and raking up the mowings. David and yours truly had started mowing the meadow on Friday – as can be seen in our blog report for 16th August which gives a hint of how the meadow looked before mowing.
Looking southwards across the meadow – some of it mown and raked and some pendingFive of our seven mowers and rakers (or movers and shakers!)
The haystack in the foreground of the photograph is a small fraction of the total shifted into the woods for composting.
Looking northwards, a clear line between the area that has been mown and raked and the area yet to be done.
We have managed to cut and rake about a third of the meadow. We may put in another session this Autumn to do some more. This is why we do it….
Some of the wildflowers in the meadow in June 2022
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 – you should be able to see a comment button at the bottom of this page.
Our next events
Have a look at our Home Page for details of our next work party
Our next educational event will be on Sunday the 29th September 2024 from 2 pm to 4 pm when local naturalist Steve Joul will be leading a fungal foray. Please note, this is not an event for collecting mushrooms to eat, but an opportunity to learn about the many species of fungi to be found in Adel Woods
Steve Joul guiding a group in the orchid (or cricket) meadow in June 2024
Friends of Adel Woods have been looking after the orchid (also known as the cricket meadow) since 2014. It is home to many beautiful common spotted orchids which flower in July each year, as well as other wild flowers.
The northern boundary of the orchid meadow on 15th August 2024
To keep it in good condition, we need to mow it in August each year and rake off the mowings. As you can see in the photograph above taken today, by August, it is in a pretty unruly state.
Today, your correspondent and David Preston, Parks and Countryside Ranger, spent the morning mowing the meadow – your correspondent using a scythe, and David using a brush cutter – so that Friends of Adel Woods can rake off the mowings in two days time, on Sunday. It was a beautiful morning.
In the course of our work, David came across a number of toads in the vegetation including the little toadlet in the photograph above, and the mature toad in the photograph below.
We worked from 9 till 12.45 in which time your correspondent had scythed the area shown in the photograph below (the same area shown in the second photograph above)…
The northern boundary of the orchid meadow after a morning’s scything
…and David had mown with the brush cutter a much larger area as shown in the photograph above.
You can find out more about the meadow by clicking here
On the way home, your correspondent went to have a look at Adel Moor – another area where Friends of Adel Woods have done a lot of work over the last fifteen years – and it was looking magnificent!
Adel Moor today
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 – you should be able to see a comment button at the bottom of this page.
Our next events
Our next work party is on Sunday the 18th August 2024 when we will be litterpicking and working on the orchid meadow.
Our next educational event will be on Wednesday the 28th August 2024 from 7.15 to 9 pm when David Preston will be leading a bat walk.
This afternoon Steve Joul, a local naturalist and FOAW committee member, led a Stream and Pond Safari in Adel Woods.
At 2 pm, we met in the Village Green carpark. Steve gave an introductory talk to an enthusiastic group of adults and children, and handed out various fishing nets and containers for transportation to our first port of call – the “beach” next to the bridge across Nanny Beck behind the cricket pavilion.
Once there, Steve moved a few stones in the bottom of the stream, collected a sample of mud and emptied into a tray so that we could see what he had collected.
What have we got here?
What seemed at first to be inanimate organic material soon turned out to be full of life – as can be seen from the video below.
In the video we can see freshwater shrimps darting about. Other creatures in the sample were water mite, bloodworms and sludge worms. In the video Steve can be heard to mention “bullheads” – small fish, similar in size to minnows and sticklebacks. We did not find any in Nanny Beck, but we did later on in Meanwood Beck and there is a photograph of one below.
When we had all had a good look Steve returned the creatures to the stream and we made our way down to Adel Pond.
Adel Pond
At the pond one of our party soon spotted a newt and Steve caught a couple so that people could have a good look. In the UK we have three species of native newts: the great crested newt, smooth newts and palmate newts. In Adel Pond we have palmate newts, so called because the males have webbing on their back feet. Another distinctive feature is that the males also have a a thin filament at the end of their tails during the breeding season.
A palmate newt
We also caught some fearsome dragonfly larvae in the pond.
A dragonfly nymph
Finally, at 3.30 we made our way down to the bridge over Meanwood Beck leading to Spring Hill. Here Steve collected a further sample of material from the bottom of the beck.
Looking the sample from Meanwood Beck
Among the creatures found in this sample was a bullhead – a small fish which lives on the bottom of fast stony rivers and streams, feeding on such things as mayfly and caddisfly larvae and the eggs of other fish.
A bullhead from Meanwood Beck
By now it was 4 pm and time to make our way home.
In case you are wondering, no creatures were harmed in the course of our safari, and all were returned safely to their natural habitat.
Thank you to Steve for a very interesting afternoon which certainly caught the imagination of all who attended – not least the youngsters.
Pond dipping in Meanwood Beck
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 – you should be able to see a comment button at the bottom of this page.
Our next events
Our next work party is on Sunday the 18th August 2024 when we will be litterpicking and working on our orchid meadow (also known as the cricket meadow).
Our next educational event will be on Wednesday the 28th August 2024 from 7.15 to 9 pm when our local countryside ranger, David Preston, will be leading a bat walk.
Further details will be given on our homepage and sent out via our mailing list.
The Buck Stone is a local landmark from which the local housing estate gets its name. It has appeared on local maps for at least two hundred years. Until about twenty years ago it was a place where children could play, and where you could sit and enjoy nature, but over the years it became concealed under the spreading branches of an oak tree.
In 2012, responding to requests from local residents, Friends of Adel Woods restored it to its former glory, and we have carried out further maintenance work in the years since. You can find out more in our entries for 18th March 2012 and the 30th March 2012.
As you can see from the photograph below taken on the 6th July 2024, nature moves in quickly! So today it was time to do some further tidying up!
The Buck Stone on 6th July 2024
If you don’t know where the Buck Stone is, it is in Adel Woods just behind the houses on Buck Stone Avenue. About twenty yards from the junction with Buck Stone Way, there is a ginnel marked by a public footpath sign between two bungalows. Go down the ginnel and follow the path to your right, and you will find the Buck Stone.
A small but international group of us met in Buck Stone Avenue at 10 am. International because one of our number, Jen, a former stalwart of Friends of Adel Woods, had flown in from her home in Australia, just to help Friends of Adel Woods!
As can be seen in the photographs, the bracken and Himalayan balsam surrounding the Buck Stone and on either side of the path was very thick and as much as eight to ten feet tall. We started by clearing bracken and Himalayan balsam from around the Buck Stone and then cleared it from the paths. Disappointingly, a dog owner had used a small area in front of the Buck Stone as a dog toilet, so we had to start work by removing as much as we could and covering the rest with a layer of bracken and balsam.
Deep among the Himalayan balsam we found this perfect nest – no longer in use, so we assume that its occupants had successfully fledged. It was a very small nest – the inside of the cup was about 5-6 cm across – so our guess is that it was a robin’s nest. If anyone has any other suggestions, please let us know!
The path running along the back of the houses on Buck Stone Avenue had been overgrown until it was almost invisible. We opened it up again as can be seen in the following photographs.
Looking eastwards along the path behind Buck Stone Avenue on the 6th JulyThe same path at 11.44 on the 20th July
Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers for the work they did this morning – and to Jen for joining us from Australia!
Friends of Adel Woods
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 – you should be able to see a comment button at the bottom of this page.
Our next events
Our next work party is on Sunday the 18th August 2024 when we will be litterpicking and working on our orchid meadow (also known as the cricket meadow).
Our next educational event will be on Wednesday the 28th August 2024 from 7.15 to 9 pm when our local countryside ranger, David Preston, will be leading a bat walk.
Further details will be given on our homepage and sent out via our mailing list.
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.
Adel Moor on 9th June 2024 – two Friends of Adel Woods in the distance
Another lovely morning spent in Adel Woods, litter picking and working on Adel Moor with David Preston our local Parks and Countryside ranger.
We had one person litter picking today, and she gathered one and a half bags of rubbish.
Six of us worked on the moor with David, focusing on the bottom or western end.
We had a very successful morning on the moor, cutting back tree branches from around the edge of the moor to give the heather a chance to thrive, and removing saplings and seedlings – a job made much easier with the use of our own and the council’s tree poppers. For more information about the work we have been doing on Adel Moor, see our blog entry for Saturday 25th May.
David Preston with four happy Friends of Adel Woods
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 will be on Saturday the 20th July when we will be litterpicking and clearing scrub from around the Buck Stone. Details of the meeting place will be given on the homepage of our website shortly and via our email mailing list shortly.
Our next educational event will be on Sunday the 21st July from 2 to 4 pm, when Steve Joul, our expert naturalist, will be leading a stream and pond life safari. Again, more information will be given on our website and via our email mailing list.
Both of these events are suitable for children, provided that they are accompanied by a responsible adult.
Adel Moor on 9th June 2024: bilberries in the foreground, and heather in the background.
Friends of Adel Woods on Adel Moor on 21st April 2024
This evening we held our Annual General meeting, attended by seven members of our committee and one Friend, with apologies from two members of our committee who were away, and two Friends.
The minutes of last year’s Annual General Meeting were approved.
The Chair gave a report of the past year’s activities and thanked the committee and all volunteers for the work done. His report can be read below.
The Treasurer presented the Income and Expenditure account for the year. The funds held on 31st March 2024 were £88.82. Since then a grant of £159.96 from Alwoodley 2030 has been received giving a current balance of £248.78.
Thanks were given to Rob Hall for auditing the accounts.
Rob Hall was re-elected as auditor for the forthcoming year.
All the existing members of the committee chose to remain in office. Roger Gilbert was elected Chair; Judith White was re-elected Treasurer; Sue Chambers was elected as minute secretary.
All present unanimously gave a vote of thanks to David Preston for all the work he has done in Adel Woods and with Friends of Adel Woods in the last year.
The Chair proposed votes of thanks to Judith White and Stephanie Clarke, who will shortly be leaving Alwoodley, for all the work they have done as Treasurer and Secretary respectively, and as committee members and members of Friends of Adel Woods over the last fifteen years. This was unanimously approved.
The Chair’s Report
We are just about to complete our fifteenth year of FOAW and in the last year we have had a successful year with many work parties and educational walks and talks.
Work Parties
Repairing the Stairfoot Lane steps on 30th September 2023
Starting with work parties, we have had 18 work days comprising:
13 mornings of litterpicking
7 mornings working on Adel Moor – removing bracken, brambles and saplings. Three of these took place on a Wednesday.
1 morning on Adel Pond and ditches with David Preston
2 mornings on Adel Bog, one with David Preston and one with David and Heather Wagstaffe
5 mornings of path clearing – including repairing the Stairfoot Lane steps
1 morning clearing scrub and bracken from around the Buck Stone
2 days of nest box cleaning and surveying with Steve Joul
1 morning of mowing the cricket meadow and learning to scythe with Leeds City Council ranger, Rachel Todnor.
The astute among you will have noted that the list totals thirty two activities, not eighteen. This is because on many of our work parties we do both litter picking and some other activity – such as path clearing or working on Adel Moor.
Joint Events with Alwoodley 2030
A joint work party from FOAW and Alwoodley 2030 in August 2023
In addition, Friends of Adel Woods supported two events organised by Alwoodley 2030: in August 2023, clearing scrub from around the young fruit trees planted in the former rugby practice field; and in January this year, pruning and clearing scrub from around a mature apple tree in Copper’s Field behind the Buckstones.
Educational Events
David Preston shares some fascinating facts about bats
We had four educational events in the year May 2023 to April 2024.
In June last year, we took the opportunity of a band concert on Alwoodley Village Green to have a stall to promote awareness of our work. Thank you to Judith, Stephanie and Tamsin for helping with that – and to Daddy Kool the ice cream man who helped us to put up the gazebo in a strong wind.
On the 1st September, Leeds City Council ranger, David Preston, led a very successful bat walk.
On the 8th October our committee member and local naturalist, Steve Joul, led an equally successful fungal foray.
And on the 5th May Steve led our annual birdsong walk when we saw or heard twenty five species of birds including a willow warbler.
A birdsong walk in Adel Woods with Steve Joul in May 2024
We are grateful to David and Steve for leading these walks. I know from the messages I receive after these events that people really enjoy them.
Grants
The Friends of Adel Woods’ tree popper
We received two grants this year:
In August, Alwoodley Parish Council gave us a grant to enable us to purchase a tree popper, a fantastic tool for removing saplings from Adel Moor and Adel Bog.
In March this year, Alwoodley 203 gave us a grant to purchase four top of the range nest boxes.
We are very grateful to the Parish Council and Alwoodley 2030 for their generosity.
And Finally…
Thanks are due to our committee and volunteers for all the work that they have done over the last year. We are looking forward to another year of fun, laughter and friendship.
And thank you again to David Preston and Steve Joul for leading events over the last year, and to Leeds City Council Ranger, Rachel Todner, who mowed the cricket meadow and taught us to how to use a scythe.
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.
Friends of Adel Woods prepare to survey and clean nest boxes in January 2024
Last night, after yet another day of heavy rain, I went to bed thinking that today would be a wash out and nobody would turn up for today’s Friends of Adel Woods event (I know that I tend to go on about the weather in these blog posts but, in my defence, we do live in the UK, and we have just dripped through the wettest Autumn, Winter and Spring for years).
It was therefore a bit of a shock when I drew the curtains this morning and it was a beautiful day with not a cloud in sight.
Even better, we had an excellent turn out of thirteen volunteers (including yours truly) for today’s work party: two for litter picking, one for a bit of litter picking and working on the moor; and another ten of us working exclusively on Adel Moor.
Friends of Adel Woods working on Adel Moor on the 25th May 2024
The litter pickers worked mainly around the area where houses on the Buckstone estate back on to Adel Woods, and around the children’s play area on Alwoodley Village Green. Fortunately, there wasn’t a huge amount of rubbish to pick up but they picked up a couple of bagfuls.
A view across Adel Moor on the 25th May 2024
On Adel Moor we continued the work we have been doing for almost fifteen years – removing tree seedlings, young saplings and brambles – concentrating today, as on 21st April on the lower western end of the moor.
There is still a lot of work to do, but today the heather and bilberries were looking great. It is not easy to remember what the moor looked like in the early days of Friends of Adel Woods, and so here is a photograph of our treasurer, Stephanie, working on the moor on the 24th May 2011. It shows just how much our Parks and Countryside rangers, and Friends of Adel Woods and other groups have achieved over the years.
Working on Adel Moor on the 24th May 2011
Our volunteers did an excellent job in very warm conditions and, once again, our trusty tree popper did excellent service in speeding up the removal of unwanted saplings.
Man conquers nature – with a tree popper!
Another really enjoyable morning and here are some of our happy volunteers!
Tired and happy volunteers after a good morning’s work!
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
Next Thursday, the 30th May, we will be holding our Annual General Meeting. All are welcome, so if you would like to attend, please get in touch by leaving a comment on this website. The only pre-requisite for attending is that you care about Adel Woods and would like to help to maintain them.
Our next work party will be on Sunday the 9th June when we will be litterpicking, and working on Adel Moor with Leeds City Council ranger, David Preston, from 10 am to 12 noon.
Our next educational event will be on Sunday the 21st July from 2 to 4 pm, when our expert naturalist Steve Joul will be leading a stream and pond life 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.
In our February blog post, I spoke of the promise of Spring; in our March blog post, I said that Spring seemed to be almost here. Today, even though we have had another month of seemingly endless rain, I think that it finally arrived. We had a lovely morning.
We also had a bumper turn out of sixteen volunteers, including four new ones!
We met in Buckstone Road and today we had two tasks: litterpicking; and removing seedlings and saplings from Adel Moor.
Four of our volunteers chose to litterpick, and they gathered two bags of litter, ranging as far as the Stairfoot Lane carpark. One of our seasoned litterpickers commented that when they got there, she had never seen the carpark looking so pristine, so perhaps another group had been out litterpicking recently.
Three eager litter pickers raring to go!
We had twelve volunteers on Adel Moor. This is a special habitat as it is the last piece of heathland in Leeds, and it is home to a small population of viviparous lizards, and green hairstreak butterflies.
A viviparous lizard photographed on Adel Moor(archive photograph)
Without management, the heathland will eventually be taken over by woodland, and so for the last fourteen years Friends of Adel Woods have worked with Leeds City Council rangers to keep the heathland in good condition. One of the tasks is to remove tree seedlings and saplings.
Taking a breather, while working with the tree popper
The smallest seedlings can be pulled up by hand. Others can be dug up using a mini-mattock or a mattock. Saplings with a trunk up to about an inch in diameter can be levered out of the ground using our tree popper, an amazing tool which enables us to get the job done a lot faster than with mattocks and spades.
Two long-standing friends of Adel woodsA happy team at the end of a morning’s work
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
On Sunday the 5th May, our committee member and expert naturalist, Steve Joul, will be leading a birdsong walk in Adel Woods, meeting at 6.55 am in the Village Green carpark opposite the shops on King Lane. This event will be from 7 am to 9 am.
Our next work party will be on Saturday the 25th May when we will be litterpicking and doing further work on Adel Moor from 10 am to 12 noon.
Further details are given on our homepage and will be sent out via our mailing list.
Friends of Adel Woods 