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.
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.
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.
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.
We crossed Stairfoot Lane into the mountain-biking tracks and listened to the loud, repeating song of the song thrush.
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.
Friends of Adel Woods 