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
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
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.
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!
Today the plan was to help David Preston to carry out further work on Adel Bog. Unfortunately, due to a puncture to his van tyre, he was unable to join us, and so, while two of us did some litterpicking, six of us did some path clearing.
The path we chose was the raised path which runs from Adel Pond, along the north side of Adel Bog, towards Stairfoot Lane.
The trees on each side of this path are mainly holly which were creating a dark canopy over the path. We removed a great deal of holly from above the path.
We used the offcuts to create some dead-hedging between the path and Adel Bog.
Looking along the path in the direction of Stairfoot Lane: dead hedging on the left of the pathLooking back towards Adel Pond
Another successful and enjoyable morning in the woods.
We woke this morning to a clear blue sky and a beautiful day. What better way to spend the morning than in Adel Woods?
We had two activities planned for this morning – to work on Adel Pond and to litterpick. Our treasurer, Judith, added a third, namely to go and clear away grass and other vegetation growing around the stone monument marking the Hospice Woodland. And a great job she made of it, as shown by the photograph below. Unfortunately, she was unable to take a photograph showing its state before she began due to the angle of the sun.
The entrance to the Hospice Woodland, Stairfoot Lane, Adel Woods, Leeds.
Only one Friend, Sue, chose to litterpick today, and she picked up two bags of rubbish, mainly around the rugby club and Stairfoot Lane car parks. Thank you Sue!
While Judith and Sue set off on their respective missions, the remaining nine of us made our way with David Preston, our local Parks and Countryside Ranger, to work on Adel Pond.
There were three aspects to our work on the pond. Firstly, to remove small trees and overhanging branches from around the edge of the pond, in order to let more light in and to reduce the number of leaves falling into the pond.
Sizing up small trees and overhanging branches for removal
Secondly, to remove silt from the pond. Thirdly, to clear mud and leaves from the ditches leading into the pond. This involved a lot of digging of mud from the pond and ditches, and removing it to somewhere it will not wash back into the pond.
Clearing silt from Adel Pond
It was hard work, but of course there was time for a bit of nature watching!
Our agenda today was litterpicking through the woods, and removing bracken, brambles and saplings from Adel Moor. As can be seen from the photos we were blessed with lovely weather.
Two of us chose to litterpick and gathered about three bags of rubbish during the morning.
Our intrepid litterpickers!
The rest of us, eight in all, spent a warm morning working on the moor, focusing mainly on pulling up bracken. If you are wondering why we do this, it is because bracken is extremely prolific and eventually smothers and kills off all other plants. In the photo below, you can clearly see, just beyond our Friends, the dividing line between the heather (which we are trying to encourage) and the lighter green bracken.
Adel Moor is special as the last remaining piece of heathland in Leeds and it is also host to a population of common lizards, though we didn’t see any today.
In the last three Springs, green hairstreak butterflies have been found on the moor. They are not a rare species nationally but until 2020 they were only found in the Leeds area on Otley Chevin.
Fortunately, bracken is usually pretty easy to pull up, though the main part of the root is left in the ground and it takes several years of “bracken bashing” to kill bracken off.
It was heartening to find plenty of heather still hanging on beneath the fronds of bracken.
Two piles of bracken and four of our bracken bashers.
At the end of the morning’s work, the bracken is carried into the surrounding woodland for composting
At the end of the morning’s work, the bracken is carried into the surrounding woodland for composting.Time for lunch!
A pleasant Spring morning, and an amazing turn out of fourteen Friends and two dogs!
We met in Old Leo’s car park and our tasks for today were litter picking and path clearing. Because we were a large group, we split into three groups: one group litter picking; another group clearing paths in Alwoodley Plantation and around Adel Crag; and the third group working along Crag Lane, and along the stream to Adel Pond.
Your correspondent was in the last group and so this report will focus on their work.
As we left Old Leo’s car park we paused to admire and encourage the work of one of our happy litter pickers.
A happy litter picker!
We made our way along Crag Lane to a point just beyond the picnic area and before the turn off for Adel Crag. This spot is very muddy in wet weather, and a number of years ago, under the leadership of Steve Joul, we put a drainage pipe under the path. Unfortunately, the pipe regularly blocks up with mud and so the first task this morning was to unblock the pipe. One of our party had brought along some drainage rods for this purpose.
Happy drainage engineers! If you are looking at this report on a computer or tablet, you may be able to compare the before and after photos of our work by sliding the white disc in the middle up and down.
While three of us cleared the drainage pipe, and removed a lot of mud from the path, the fourth member of our team went on to the steps leading down from Stairfoot Lane car park to Meanwood Beck, and made a great job of cutting back holly which was encroaching onto the steps.
Having cleared the drainage pipe, the rest of us made our way to the steps. Here we noted that some of the iron rods supporting the steps were protruding and creating a tripping hazard. Using a mattock, we hammered the rods down.
From there the four of us made our way along the stream to Adel Pond, clearing some fallen branches and removing saplings and holly which were encroaching on to the path.
A happy sawyer
By now the morning cloud had cleared and it was becoming rather warm! This part of Meanwood Beck is particularly attractive. This morning there were masses of wood anemones in flower on the opposite bank of the stream, and since the stream is in a valley, the only sounds were the babbling of the stream and birdsong.
Happy Friends at Adel Pond at noon
When we reached Adel Pond, we met up with two litter pickers, and spent a few minutes removing large logs from the pond, so far as they could be reached from the bank.
It was now noon, and we made our way back to Old Leo’s car park via the orchid meadow.
Happy Friends, relaxing after a great morning’s work!
Friends of Adel Woods 