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
Today we did a litterpick and cleared paths from 10 am to 12 noon. However, no-one took photos so cannot say a lot more. I have used an archive photo from 16th April 2022.
This morning, Steve Joul, a member of the committee of Friends of Adel Woods, and former senior ranger with Leeds Parks and Countryside, went for a walk around Adel Woods between 7 and 10 am. As you will see, there is a lot of “nature” to enjoy in Adel Woods. Highlights for Steve this morning were seeing a pair of tree creepers; a pair of mandarin ducks; a close view of a female great spotted woodpecker; and a peacock butterfly basking in the sun.
Below there is a list of some of the other flora and fauna he saw. NB I have included archive photographs showing activities of Friends of Adel Woods and other flora and fauna which can be found in Adel Woods, but which Steve did not see this morning.
Adel Woods truly are something to treasure! If you would like to join in the activities of Friends of Adel Woods, please get in touch through this website.
Birds: 23 species
Surveying nest boxes in Adel Woods on 13th January 2023
Blackbird – over 20 seen
Blackcap – 3 males singing
Blue Tit – over 20 seen
Carrion Crow – 5 seen
Chiffchaff – over 10 males singing
Coal Tit – 3 males heard singing
Dunnock – 1 male singing
Goldcrest – 1 male singing
Great Spotted Woodpecker – female good views, another drumming
Great Tit – over 10 males seen
Jackdaw – 5 birds flying over woodland together
Jay – pair seen
Magpie – 5 birds seen
Mallard – a pair near the stream and a drake on the pond
Mandarin – a pair on the stream
Mistle Thrush – alarm heard
Nuthatch – over 10 birds calling or singing
Red Kite – single over woodland
Robin – over 20 seen
Song Thrush – 2 singing males seen, another heard
Treecreeper – pair near to Treecreeper nestbox but didn’t go in
Woodpigeon – over 20 seen
Wren – over 10 seen
Plants in flower
Bluebells in Adel Woods on 1st May 2023
American Skunk-cabbage – two patches on stream bank
Blackthorn
Dandelion
Flowering Currant
Garden Daffodil
Garden Yellow Archangel
Green Alkanet
Hybrid Bluebell – an early example
Lesser Celandine
Marsh Marigold
Meadow Foxtail – an early-flowering grass
Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage – stream banks
Ramsons – an early example
Red Currant
Wild Cherry
Wood Anemone
Wood Forget-me-not
Insects
Green Hairstreak butterfly photographed on Adel Moor on 17th April 2022 (photo taken by Joseph Worrilow)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee
Common Carder Bee
Peacock Butterfly
Seven-spot Ladybird
Fungi
Alder Bracket
Birch Polypore
Blushing Bracket
Glistening Inkcap
Hoof Fungus
Willow Bracket
Witches Broom
Steve Joul leading a fungal foray attended by about fifty people on 12th November 2022
Mammals
Grey squirrel – over 20 seen.
Friends of Adel Woods working on Adel Moor: 15th May 2022
A fine Spring morning and six Friends of Adel Woods met on Buckstone Road at 10 am to pick up litter and clear the ditches which feed water to Adel Pond (also known as Mill Fall Pond). Two more Friends joined us at the pond a little later.
As you can see, it was a fine Spring morning at 10.15 am as four of us set off up Buckstone Road to pick up litter on the path through the copse to Tescos, on the recreation ground, and along Crag Lane.
Our fantastic litter pickers
Two of us set off down to Adel Pond laden with spades, saws, loppers and mattocks. The pond was looking beautiful in the sunlight – but no frogspawn yet.
Having appraised the work we needed to do, we started off with a ditch about 10 metres to the north of the pond. As you can see in the photos below, a section of this ditch was completely filled in. Interestingly though, as soon as we started digging, we found that water was flowing swiftly under the surface. By the time we had finished, water was pouring very swiftly through the ditch.
We then started on the main ditch feeding the pond. This was relatively clear, but still full of mud, sticks and leaves. Fortunately, as we started on this ditch two more Friends joined us and together we were able to make a good job of clearing the stretch nearest the pond.
As we were working, one of our Friends, Sylvia, spotted a newt among the leaves we had just pulled out of the ditch. Geoff was despatched to relocate it to the pond. This was a task Geoff had to repeat another five times as we found more newts among the leaves!
A newt in Adel Woods
Towards the end of the morning one of our party decided to work on a stretch of ditch further away from the pond – and was surprised to find that his spade kept going down through the mud until only the handle could be seen. Fortunately, he had not stepped into that particular patch of mud!
A very deep boggy area in one of the ditches leading to Adel Pond
Towards 12 noon, Diana, another Friend of Adel Woods came to see usfor a chat and to offer encouragement.
Adel Pond on 25th March 2023
Yet another lovely morning of friendship, learning and achievement.
The original intention this morning was toclear the ditches feeding Adel Pond, and litterpick around the cricket club, and Crag Lane. However, yours truly and his better half have had covid this week, so plans had to be modified.
Judith, our ever resourceful treasurer, stepped into the breach and led a successful litterpicking team of five litter pickers, focusing on Stairfoot Lane carpark, Adel Crag and the area around the picnic tables.
They found plenty to keep them busy – mainly doggy doo doo bags and glass bottles.
So thank you to all who picked up litter today!
Since David Preston and his team of Meanwood Valley Volunteer Rangers cleared a lot of the scrub around Adel Crag, it is looking a lot better.
The entrance to the Hospices Woodland on Stairfoot Lane
Spring was definitely in the air this morning. On getting up, your correspondent drew the curtains to a glorious blue sky and sunrise. The temperature outside was 4 degrees centigrade, but by 10 am it was a lovely mild morning, perfect for working in Adel Woods!
The projects this morning were litterpicking and tidying up the Hospices Woodland, the latter being something we have been doing since March 2010.
We met in the Stairfoot Lane carpark and had a wonderful turn out of ten Friends (including two who joined us later in the Hospices Woodland).
Clearing brambles in the Hospices Woodland in Adel Woods; 19th February 2023
Three of us litterpicked while the rest of us spent the morning clearing brambles from the trees and paths in the Hospices Woodland.
The Hospices Woodland is on the South side of Stairfoot Lane, to the North East of the Stairfoot Lane carpark. It is called the Hospices Woodland because in about 2000 St Gemma’s and Wheatfields hospices had heard about a tree sponsorship scheme and were keen to contribute to tree planting in Leeds, and raise funds for their work. They approached the Parks and Countryside department of Leeds City Council and it was agreed that Parks and Countryside would provide the land adjacent to Stairfoot Lane and manage the trees, while the hospices would administer the scheme. People could sponsor a tree for £25 of which £15 went to the hospices, and £10 to Parks to pay for purchasing the tree and ensuring its establishment.
It was very successful in the first year and a hectare of new native woodland was planted. Sponsorship money continued to come in and so a second phase was planted in the following years. Money continued to come in so a further woodland was planted at Temple Newsam alongside one of the main roads into the estate.
A large stone monolith was installed at both sites sponsored by a local quarry.
Friends of Adel Woods: picking up litter in the Hospices Woodland: 19th February 2023
On our way back to the Stairfoot Lane carpark, we cleared from the path a substantial tree which had fallen across it.
Another successful and enjoyable morning.
Friends of Adel Woods are always keen to attract new volunteers, so if you would like to help maintain Adel Woods, make new friends, and get some fresh air and exercise, please get in touch!
A beautiful morning, but – By Gum – it was cold first thing! It took your correspondent 20 minutes to scrape the ice off the car windows – including inside! Nevertheless, eleven Friends turned out for this morning’s work party. Five of us litterpicking. and the rest of us path clearing. And it was a lovely day for working in the woods.
The litter pickers picked up about six bags of rubbish on Buckstone Road, the Village Green, Crag Lane, the Hospice Woodland and on the track down to the cricket pavilion.
For the path clearers the objective this morning was to improve the path running alongside Adel Beck. Historically, there has been a path by the beck on the Alwoodley side all the way from Stairfoot Lane bridge down to the Spring Hill bridge, just downhill from the Slabbering Baby. However, in recent years the path has become overgrown and muddy and its route unclear at the halfway point, in the region of Adel Bog. Our focus today was to work on the path from Spring Hill bridge up to the midway point.
Getting under way: the path by Adel Beck – Spring Hill bridge can just be seen to the right
Near Spring Hill bridge, the path had been eroded away by the beck, making it a bit hazardous, as can be seen in the photograph above. One of our first jobs was therefore to move the route of the path further away from the stream and remove brambles and a large sapling which was growing across the path.
Looking towards Spring Hill Bridge
The main things to tackle today were brambles and holly which were making the path very narrow – even before the growing season starts again.
Making our way home
In the space of two hours we were able to accomplish our aims, though there is still a lot to do – principally to improve the muddy sections of the path and to improve way marking.
BeforeAfterViews of Spring Hill Bridge before and after clearing brambles and saplings
The two photographs show the difference made in the vicinity of Spring Hill bridge. The tree on the left can just be seen in the “before” photograph though it is obscured by the brambles which we removed. You can also see to the right of the tree the stump of the large sapling which we removed because it was growing across the path.
Adel Beck path looking upstream from the vicinity of Spring Hill bridge – after clearing and widening the path
Another satisfying and successful morning for the Friends of Adel Woods!
Friends of Adel Woods 