Friends of Adel Woods and Alwoodley 2030 volunteers working on the community orchard
This evening, Friends of Adel Woods had our first ever evening “work party” led by our secretary, Stephanie.
It was a joint event with Alwoodley 2030 who are a group set up about a year ago under the umbrella of Climate Action Leeds. The aim of Alwoodley 2030 is to “activate community-driven solutions to address the loss of biodiversity and nature and the climate emergency”. You can find out more at their very active Facebook page: Alwoodley 2030: Climate Action Hub.
Our task this evening was to clear bracken and brambles that have grown up around the community orchard in Adel Woods. We had a great turn out of FOAW and Alwoodley 2030 volunteers – fifteen in all – and in an hour and a half of hard work, they made a huge difference.
The orchard was planted in March 2021 by Leeds Parks and Countryside Ranger, Steve Joul, assisted by his son, as part of Leeds City Council’s woodland creation scheme. There are ten trees comprising a range of varieties of apple and pear trees.
The trees were planted as very young saplings. If they seem far apart in the photos, it is because, before planting them, Steve researched the space each would need to grow into a fully mature tree.
Spot the four trees in the photo!
If you would like to find out more about the planting of the trees and their varieties, have a look at our blog entry for the 18th March 2021 – the link is given below.
Can you spot four more four fruit trees in the photo?Some of the team of volunteers enjoying a sense of achievement for a good evening’s work!
Since the trees were cleared, Steve has put some labels on them. For more information about the orchard, here is a link to our blog post for the 18th March 2021
I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog post.
Friends of Adel Woods were set up in 2009 to protect, enhance and maintain Adel Woods and to work with other groups and organisations to that end. We welcome everyone would like to help us look after the beautiful woods on our doorstep.
The next Friends of Adel Woods “work party” is on Saturday the 16th September 2023, when we will be litterpicking and clearing scrub from around the Buck Stone. Have a look at our home page for more information.
Today we had a magnificent turnout of twelve volunteers to litterpick and to help Leeds City Council ranger, Rachel, work on the Orchid Meadow.
Three of our number chose to litterpick and ranged widely through the woods from Buckstone Road, where we met, to the pond, Crag Lane and the Stairfoot Lane carpark. They picked up up three bags of litter on the way.
The rest of us set off to the Orchid Meadow with Rachel, armed with a brush cutter, scythes, rakes and tarpaulins.
The existence of the Orchid Meadow came to our attention in Summer 2014 when our treasurer Judith discovered lots of orchids flowering there. At that time there were lots of young trees growing in the meadow and it was surrounded by swathes of himalayan balsam. Since then we have done a lot of work on the meadow, under the leadership of Steve Joul, and it has blossomed into a wonderful wildflower meadow – as can be seen from the photograph above.
What you cannot see in the photograph are the many common spotted orchids concealed among the buttercups.
Here is a photograph of one of them.
Common spotted orchid, Adel Woods, 14th June 2023
Traditionally meadows were mown in mid to late Summer. The cuttings were then allowed to dry and removed after a few days to produce hay to feed livestock. This allowed flowering plants the chance to set seed, and the removal of the mowings reduced the nutrient levels in the soil and allowed flowers to compete with more vigorous grasses.
Much of Adel Woods was originally farmland, as evidenced by the many dry stone wall field boundaries – the farmhouse for Crag Farm used to stand in the area now used as a picnic area. Without regular mowing meadows will soon turn into scrubland and eventually woodland as shown in this photograph of the same field, taken in July 2016.
Steve Joul in the Orchid Meadow, Adel Woods, 16th July 2016
So over the last few years, as a ranger with Leeds City Council Steve Joul has mown the orchid meadow in late Summer – and last year as a private citizen he scythed the meadow and raked off the cuttings on his own!
Last week, Rachel cut about half of the meadow with a brush cutter last week, and our task today was to continue the mowing – Rachel with a brush cutter and three of us with scythes – and rake off the mowings.
Friends of Adel Woods working on the orchid meadow
None of us had used a scythe before and Rachel showed us what to do. One essential part of using a scythe is to sharpen it with a whetstone every five minutes or so to keep it cutting well.
Friends of Adel Woods: sharpening a scythe with a whetstoneFriends of Adel Woods: scything the orchid meadow
Due to the fact that we are a volunteer group, we are not able to leave the cuttings to dry, so the next step today was to rake up the cuttings and transport them to compost heaps in the adjacent woods.
Two happy workers raking up the mowingsTwo more happy workers putting the cuttings onto a tarpaulin for transfer to a compost heap.Feeling happy after a good morning’s work
Friends of Adel Woods are a friendly group and we are always looking for new members. If you would like to help look after our woods, get some fresh air and exercise in beautiful surroundings, and make new friends, please get in touch.
Our next work party is on Saturday the 16th September 2023 when we will be clearing scrub from around our local landmark, the Buck Stone.
Today was our final “Bracken Pulling Wednesday” on Adel Moor, and our fourth morning of working on the moor during July. Today we had an excellent team of six volunteers – and the next day a seventh who turned up a day late, but still did an excellent morning’s work on his own!
Over the years Friends of Adel Woods, the Leeds City Council Rangers and various other groups have done a lot of work on the moor to keep it in good shape. The difference that the work has made can be seen by comparing views below of the northern area of the moor with the south western area which has not received as much attention.
The north eastern area of Adel MoorThe south western section of the moor: a profusion of heather, bracken, brambles and saplings
Our aim during our four July events has been to reduce the amount of bracken to allow other plants such as heather, bilberry and gorse to thrive. Clearing saplings in the western section of the moor is a task for another day using tools like tree poppers and mattocks.
We focused today on clearing areas of bracken where heather or bilberry were still present under the canopy of bracken.
We started in the southern area of the moor where we expected (based on our work last Saturday) to find a lot of heather surviving under the bracken. However, we found that much of the ground under the bracken was bare. We therefore moved round to the south western area where we did find a lot of heather surviving under the bracken.
Getting stuck in!
However, it was very clear that a lot of work needs to be done in the south western and western areas of the moor to clear saplings. There are a lot of young oak trees and birch trees.
Rose Bay WillowherbJuniper Polytrichum Moss
There is a modest amount of rose bay willow herb on the moor. We cleared some of this. It was considered rare until about 150 years ago but it has spread dramatically over the last hundred years probably due to the corridors provided by railways. After the second world war it was called “bomb weed” due to its tendency to appear in bomb sites. It has a beautiful flower.
During our bracken pulling we revealed a beautiful patch of star shaped moss -see the photo above. A quick look on an iPhone app told us it was Juniper Polytrichum Moss.
Thank you to all who have participated in bracken pulling during July – including the Meanwood Valley Volunteer Rangers who worked on the moor last Wednesday with David Preston.
PS
Thank you to the person who found my New Zealand sun hat and hung it up on a tree. We found it on Friday and it is now safe and sound!
Our objectives this morning were litterpicking and continuing with our work on Adel Moor, reducing the amount of bracken, removing tree seedling and brambles.
Adel Moor
We had a small but select group of seven. One of us went off litterpicking along Crag Lane to the Stairfoot Lane car park and picked up just over a bag full of litter.
Clearing bracken on Adel Moor
The rest of us worked on Adel Moor. Today we were continuing with our work of reducing the amount of bracken on the moor, but also removing brambles and tree seedlings, saplings and rosebay willow herb.
The chair of Friends of Adel Woods assisting Judith with a tough bramble
We each found different things to do. Three of us focused on pulling bracken; one of us concentrated on clearing brambles and bracken from around the main clump of gorse; and two of us roamed over the moor, clearing up odd patches of bracken, rosebay willowherb and brambles among the heather.
One of the patches of bracken had a very healthy population of heather plants surviving beneath it – as can just about be seen in the before and after photographs below.
A patch of bracken before – at 10.43 am……and after at 11.57 amrevealing a healthy patch of heather
It was another enjoyable morning on the moor. We worked through a couple of heavy rain showers but as we finished the sun came out. Some of the heather was just coming into flower.
Today was the second of our three “bracken pulling Wednesdays” on Adel Moor led by Barbara. It coincided with a “bracken bashing” and sapling removal event by the Meanwood Valley Volunteer Rangers led by David Preston.
We all met at the Slabbering Baby entrance to Adel Woods on Buckstone Road at 10 am. There was a little confusion at the start as people didn’t realise there were two groups. However, the confusion was soon dispelled as the Volunteer Rangers had orange Hi-Vis jackets, while the Friends of Adel Woods had yellow ones.
Friends of Adel Woods pulling bracken on Adel Moor
The Friends of Adel Woods took up where we finished last Wednesday at the North Eastern end of the Moor, while the Volunteer Rangers worked a little way round to the East. It was a much cooler day than last Wednesday, but fine weather until about 11.30 when there was a brief but heavy shower.
There was a good turn out for both groups (twelve for FOAW) and soon large quantities of bracken were being transported to compost heaps in the woods to the sound of happy conversation.
Meanwood Valley Volunteer Rangers working on Adel Moor with piles of bracken in the foreground
The Volunteer Rangers were also clearing small saplings using a tree popper.
The Volunteer Rangers stopping for a brief cuppa
The Friends of Adel Woods worked until 12 and were able to clear a large patch of heather to reveal heather and a large amount of bilberries. There are before and after photos below. The Volunteer Rangers were to continue till 3 pm and had the misfortune to be caught by two torrential downpours!
Friends of Adel Woods surveying the completed job.Before……and afterAdel Moor: 12 noon on Wednesday the 12th July 2023
If you would like to know more about why we clear bracken from Adel Moor, have a look at our blog post for 5 July 2023
This afternoon the Lofthouse 2000 Brass Band gave a very good concert on the Village Green as part of Leeds City Council’s Summer Bands in Leeds Parks series.
Friends of Adel Woods took the opportunity to do a bit of schmoozing and spread the word about the work we do in Adel Woods.
It was the first time yours truly had put up the gazebo for four years and we owe a debt of gratitude to the Daddy Kool Ice cream man for helping us put it up in windy conditions!
Fortunately, apart from the odd strong gust of wind, it was a lovely relaxing afternoon and we enjoyed meeting up with and chatting with Friends old and new.
Barbara also joined us to tell people about Alwoodley Walkabout walking group.
If you would like to know about Friends of Adel Woods or Alwoodley Walkabout, send us an email or add a comment to this post.
Lofthouse 2000 Brass Band on Alwoodley Village Green
A beautiful June morning and another great turn out of twelve Friends of Adel Woods, including four new volunteers.
Most of us met with David Preston, our local ranger, at 10 am in Buckstone Road.
Four of us set off litterpicking, starting at the Village Green and the main road near Tesco’s, and then heading along Crag Lane to the picnic area. We had another regular Friend doing some freelance litterpicking too.
The rest of us joined David in working on Adel Moor – pulling up bracken, rosebay willowherb, brambles and saplings.
The reason we do this is to preserve what is the last piece of moorland in Leeds which is also home to a precious colony of viviparous lizards. We haven’t seen any for a couple of years, but I am pleased – and excited – to say that today we had two separate sitings!! We didn’t get a photograph – as they are very quick and secretive creatures, but the photo below is one we took in April 2014.
Viviparous or common lizard found on Adel moor in April 2014
You may notice that the lizard in the photo has a truncated tail. This is because, if threatened by a predator, a viviparous lizard can shed its still-moving tail to distract the predator and escape. This is called “autotomy”, which is Greek for “self-cut off”.. I am pleased to say that in this instance the autotomy was due to some previous encounter, not the result of FOAW’s intervention, and the lizard can grow a new tail. No lizards were harmed in the taking of the photograph!
These lizards are called “viviparous”, which means giving birth to live young, because the females do not lay eggs: they incubate the eggs inside their bodies and give birth to between three and eleven live young in July.
Friends of Adel Woods with David Preston: 4th June 2023
Getting back to our morning’s work, we were lucky that David was able to bring two “tree poppers” which are excellent tools for rapidly pulling up small saplings up to about a metre tall.
A large and medium sized tree popper
We were able to pull up a large amount of bracken, brambles, rosebay willow herb and many small saplings and we had a very enjoyable – though warm! – morning.
Friends of Adel Woods: tidying up at the end of the morning: 4th June 2023
All except one of our current committee members attended. In addition, David Preston, ranger with Leeds City Council, and three “Friends” attended.
1. Three Friends sent apologies.
2. The minutes of the last AGM on 26th May 2022 were approved subject to minor amendments.
3. The Chair gave a report on activities since the last Annual General Meeting. This is printed in full below.
4. The Treasurer gave a report on the accounts for the last year. In fact, there had been only one item of expenditure in the last year.
5. Rob Hall was elected auditor for the coming year.
6. The following officers were elected unopposed:
Roger Gilbert: chair
Judith White: treasurer
Stephanie Clark: secretary
The existing members of the committee who were present all confirmed that they are willing to continue as members. In addition, another Friend had a rush of blood to the head and agreed to join the committee. The committee members are therefore: R Gilbert; J White; S Clark; R Hall; D Hampshire; S Chambers; S Joul; T Wragg; D Smith.
7. A vote of thanks was given to David Preston for the work he has done with the Friends of Adel Woods in the last year.
8. The meeting concluded with a wide-ranging discussion of other business including:
opportunities to apply for grants from Love Leeds Parks for footpath work;
the tree thinning work around Adel Crag is to continue this year;
the program of works for the coming year;
Steve Joul’s regular work on the one patch of Japanese knotweed over the last many years seems to have paid off as Steve could not find any remaining shoots this year;
how to deal with the problem of dog poo on Adel Moor.
The Chair’s Report
Star of Bethlehem in Adel Woods: 21 May 2023
We are very lucky to live near Adel Woods. Steve Joul did a walk around the woods on 16th April this year when he recorded: 23 bird species; 17 plants in flower; 4 species of insects; 7 species of fungi; and 20 grey squirrels. You can find the details in the blog post for 16th April.
The last year has been our first complete year of activities uninterrupted by Covid 19 since 2018-19. It was a bumper year.
We have two types of activities: work parties, and educational walks and talks.
WORK PARTIES
We had 18 work parties when we carried out the following work (NB the total number of activities adds up to more than 18 because each work party involves both litterpicking and some other work such as path clearing):
13 mornings of litterpicking;
4 mornings working on Adel Moor – removing bracken, brambles and saplings;
2 mornings on Adel Pond and ditches (and Judith cleaning the Slabbering Baby);
3 mornings on Adel Bog;
6 mornings of path clearing;
A day and a half of surveying and cleaning nest boxes
1 morning of working on the hospice woodland (plus a morning in October when Judith cleaned the monument at the entrance on Stairfoot Lane).
Litterpicking and path clearing in Adel Woods 21st January 2023
Of the eighteen work parties most were led by our chair, but three were led by David Preston; the nest box cleaning and surveying was led by Steve Joul; three of the mornings on Adel Moor were led by Barbara Wakefield; two litterpicking and path clearing events were led by Judith; and one by Rob. It is good that we have a range of people who are able and willing to lead a morning in the woods.
Working on Adel Bog with David Prestonon 30th November 2023
The mornings led by Barbara were a new venture – on a Wednesday morning and focussing on one task which did not need tools, pulling up bracken on the moor. These were very successful, attracting some new volunteers and achieving a great deal. We are going to repeat this in July this year.
Friends of Adel Woods pulling up bracken on Adel Moor: August 2023
EDUCATIONAL EVENTS
We had two educational events in the last year.
The first was a fungal foray with Steve Joul on the 12th November.. It was a beautiful afternoon and we had something like 45-50 attendees.
Steve Joul describing a fungus to a rapt audience on 12th November 2022
The second was our our annual birdsong walk on Sunday 14th May, again led by Steve Joul. We had about a dozen attendees. It was a very successful morning: we saw or heard 19 species of bird, and we saw woodpeckers entering and leaving a hole in a tree; a pair of jays on their nest; a woodpigeon sitting on its nest; tits using a Friends of Adel Woods nest box; and treecreepers entering a nesting hole in a tree near the entrance to Old Leo’s car park.
Steve Joul leading our birdsong walkon 14th May 2023
If you would like to know more about our activities, please have a look at our blog entries. They are written by someone I know well and love and respect, and they have some really good pictures!
There are a couple of other things worth noting during the year.
Firstly, in August last year, Steve single handedly scythed and raked the orchid meadow and made a brilliant job of it.
Secondly, in February of this year, David Preston and the Meanwood Valley Volunteer Rangers thinned trees, scrub and holly in front of Adel Crag and they have really improved the crag as a feature of the woods.
A view of Adel Crag (middle left) in February 2023 after clearance of scrub, trees and holly
Finally, at this time of year it is worth popping into Adel Woods to have a look at a beautiful, fragrant yellow azalea near the Stairfoot Lane carpark. If you go down the steps towards the stream, turn left onto the path after about the fifth step down, the azalea is about 25 yards along. It blooms in May and it has beautiful yellow flowers and a wonderful fragrance.
Yellow azalea in Adel Woods
On the same theme, in the next month, a large lime tree in the Stairfoot Lane car park will be coming into blossom in June, exuding a beautiful fragrance across the area. Make a note to enjoy it!
THANK YOUS
So as usual, I would like to thank our brilliant committee for all the work they have done: likewise all our wonderful volunteers. FOAW would not exist without the committee and volunteers. And I am looking forward to another year of fun, laughter and friendship with you all.
Thank you to Steve Joul for leading two wonderful educational walks over the last year – and for letting use his ladder for the nest box survey.
Thank you to David Preston for leading the events over the last year and we are looking forward to working with you again this coming year.
Finally, thank you to Old Leo’s for allowing us to use their carpark over the last year.
Alwoodley Plantation: Adel Woods; 12th November 2022
A beautiful weekend and six of us met this morning to pick up litter and clear paths.
We met in the Stairfoot Lane carpark at 10 am, and two of us chose to pick up litter and the rest of us to clear paths.
The litter pickers picked up litter on the main paths, the Village Green, around Adel (or, if you prefer Alwoodley) Crag – where there were a lot of small pieces of glass – and around the picnic tables. They also pulled up some bracken and Himalayan balsam. They found that there was much less litter than normal, and judging by the purple bags left by the bin on the Village Green, this was probably because another group had recently been out litterpicking.
Star of Bethlehem: Adel Woods – 21 May 2023
We path clearers made our way to the picnic area and cleared vegetation back from the left hand path which leads down from the picnic area to the Meanwood Valley Trail.
This field used to be regularly cut as a hay field, but since the practice stopped in the 1980’s, the brambles, nettles and bracken have dominated the grasses and regularly engulf the footpath.
Having widened that path, we made our way back to the picnic area and set off down the path indicated by the fingerpost next to the picnic bench. Our objective was to widen the path, but part way down we found a tree had fallen across the path, obstructing the way. Unfortunately, the tree was too big for us to clear away but we cleared around it so that people could use the path.
After that three of us continued down the path and did further path clearing work.
Another enjoyable and successful morning in Adel Woods!
A gloriously misty morning for our annual birdsong walk with Steve Joul. Today, we saw or heard 19 species of bird – a full list is given at the end of this post.
We met at 6.55 am in Old Leo’s car park, and had a couple of good sightings straight away – a male greater spotted woodpecker and a blackcap. The blackcap was warbling merrily in a nearby tree and we had good views.
From the car park we made our way down to the cricket club. On the way we heard plenty of robins and wrens singing and were lucky enough to see a pair of woodpeckers entering and leaving a hole in a tree where they were clearly nesting. This was a first for our annual birdsong walks.
We also paused to look at various points of interest including Lords and Ladies in flower, wild garlic and the cobwebs on trees made very visible and beautiful by the mist.
Lords and Ladies or “cuckoo pint” in floweradjacent to the track down to the cricket club
We crossed the stream behind the cricket club and were excited to have clear views of a pair of jays on a nest at the top of a tree by the kissing gate. Another first for our birdsong walks.
We made our way down the path towards the Slabbering Baby on the right we had clear views of a wood pigeon sitting on its nest. Yet another first!
We then made our way up to Adel Moor. By now the day was beginning to warm up and the mist to burn off.
Steve Joul talks about some of the bird species seen on Adel Moor
The moor looked magnificent in the mist. The heather and bilberries were bedecked with spiders’ webs which were transformed into strings of pearls by the morning dew.
A spider’s web on Adel Moor, glistening with morning dew
From the moor we made our way to Copper’s Field (so named because a horse called Copper used to be kept on it).
Apple blossom on Copper’s field, Adel WoodsBird watching in Adel Woods. Where is that bird?
From Copper’s Field we made our way past the Buck Stone (after which the Buckstone estate is named) and then walked down to the Seven Arches.
A view upstream from the Seven Arches, Adel Woods, Leeds
On a previous birdsong walk we have seen a dipper in the vicinity of the Seven Arches. Steve has also seen a kingfisher here, but no such luck today.
From the Seven Arches we walked up the Meanwood Valley Trail towards the Slabbering Baby. On the way we saw a pair of blue tits or great tits entering and leaving one of our nest boxes.
From the Slabbering Baby we made a quick detour to have a look at Adel Pond, and then made our way back up to Old Leo’s.
Inspecting Adel Pond
As we approached Old Leo’s car park we saw a pair of treecreepers making their way into a hole in the rotten trunk of a silver birch where they were clearly nesting. Another first for our birdsong walks! This was also the fourth set of nesting birds we saw this morning (the others being the jays, the woodpigeon, and the blue or great tits).
All in all it was a great morning’s birdwatching.
List of all the species of bird we saw or heard this morning
Friends of Adel Woods 