Today, despite a further month of seemingly daily (or nightly) rainfall since our last event, Spring seemed to be almost here. It was a mild, dry day and the sun actually came out at midday!
This morning’s activities were litterpicking and path clearing. We met in the Stairfoot Lane carpark at 9.55 am and although we had a slow start, in the end thirteen Friends turned up – five litterpicking and eight working on clearing paths. And it was really great that we had three first-timer Friends, two of whom were young people!
The path clearers made our way to the picnic area near Adel Crag and trimmed back holly which was narrowing the entrance to the Meanwood Valley Trail and then made our way down the trail.
The Meanwood Valley Trail viewed from the picnic area in Adel Woods
About fifty yards down the trail, a large birch tree had fallen across the path. It was too big for FOAW to deal with, but three of us removed branches which obstructed the path and trimmed back some of the branches from the “top” of the tree to reduce the weight pushing the trunk towards the ground.
The birch tree lying across the Meanwood Valley Trail
We have notified Leeds CC’s forestry department about the tree trunk.
After clearing part of the birch from the Meanwood Valley Trail
After working on the tree, we joined five other members of our team who were pruning back holly further down the Meanwood Valley Trail.
Friends of Adel Woods working on the Meanwood Valley TrailClearing holly from the entrance to one of the side paths
We don’t have any photographs of the litterpickers, but between them they picked up three bags of rubbish which was a great achievement.
A big thank you to all who took part today and helped to look after our 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 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 Sunday the 21st April when we will be litterpicking and working on Adel Moor from 10 am to 12 noon.
On Sunday the 5th May, our committee member and expert naturalist, Steve Joul, will be leading a birdsong walk – from 7 am to 9 am.
Further details are given on our homepage and will be sent out via our mailing list.
Putting up a nest box for blue tits on the Meanwood Valley Trail
When we surveyed the FOAW nest boxes on the 13th and 14th January, we found that three needed replacing, but only had one spare nest box to put up in their place. The committee therefore agreed to purchase two Schwegler tit boxes from Ark Wildlife. We purchased one with a 32 mm hole which is suitable for blue tits, great tits and nuthatches, and one with a smaller 26mm hole which is suitable just for blue tits.
They arrived yesterday and Steve Joul and your correspondent put them up this morning. We already have one Schwegler nest box near Old Leo’s clubhouse and we have been very impressed with it. It was donated to us in 2010 by our member Tina and it is very well designed and as good as new.
The blue tit box on an oak tree by the Meanwood Valley Trail
This morning we put up the first nest box on the Meanwood Valley Trail about 100 metres north of the Seven Arches aqueduct. While there, we took the opportunity to have a look to see how the Seven Arches looks following work carried out by its owner, Yorkshire Water, to remove trees and brambles growing on the structure. A few weeks earlier, our local ranger, David Preston, and the Meanwood Valley Volunteer rangers had cleared scrub from the Scotland Wood side.
The Seven Arches photographed from the Scotland Wood sideand looking good!
We put up the second nest box on the Meanwood Valley Trail just north of Adel Pond.
Putting up a tit box on the Meanwood Valley Trail north of Adel Pond
The Schwegler nest boxes are made of a mixture of woodchips, concrete and clay and are long-lasting- expected to last for up to 25 years. We are looking forward to see how our new nest boxes have fared when we survey and clean them next January.
Snowdrops by the side of Buckstone Road
On the way home afterwards it was a pleasure to see the snowdrops by the stream running alongside Buckstone Road.
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 ”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. Please get in touch by leaving a comment on this website if you would like to take part in our activities.
The Seven Arches aqueduct, with a fallen tree in the foreground.
A lovely day for part two of our annual nest box clean and survey. This morning we had a team of six and we decided to complete our survey by starting at the Seven Arches and making our way up the Meanwood Valley Trail.
When we reached the Seven Arches we found a huge tree had been blown over by the recent high winds, but were rewarded by a fine view of the aqueduct following recent clearance work carried out by David Preston and his team of Meanwood Valley Volunteer Rangers.
The morning session….
This blog post will focus on what we found during our work today. You can find a lot of information about the purpose of cleaning the nest boxes, the birds that use them, and the kind of things we find, in yesterday’s blog entry, which can be found here.
This morning we cleaned and surveyed twelve tit boxes and one treecreeper box.
Of the twelve tit boxes, ten contained tit nests (of which three at least were blue tit nests), one contained a nuthatch nest, and we don’t seem to have made a record of what we found in the twelfth. The treecreeper box contained a lot of leaves indicating it had been used by a squirrel for roosting.
A nuthatch nest in one of our woodstone boxes
Nuthatch nests are very different from tit nests. Nuthatches will use tit boxes but usually plaster around any gaps with mud, and rather than using moss, grass and feathers as nesting material, nuthatches use material chips of bark, so the nest looks like a bowl of branflakes! The nest we found today was sparse and there was not a lot of material so it is possible it was not completed. You can see a better example of a nuthatch nest in one of our wooden nest boxes photographed in January 2019 here.
The treecreeper box is a bit unusual. Treecreepers are so called because they creep up the side of tree, looking for bugs to eat. They nest high up in small gaps behind the bark of trees, and the tree creeper nest box is intended to offer something similar to the gap behind bark. It is about twice the depth of a tit box, and the entrance is on the side of the box, near the bark of the tree. We have found a tit nest in our treecreeper box in previous years, but this year we found a lot of leaves indicating that it had been used for roosting by a squirrel. You can see a photograph of the treecreeper box here
One first this year was that we found a large amount of “sawdust” in box 39, and a large hole in the back of the box. Since the back of the box was against the trunk of the tree, the hole could not have been made from the outside by a woodpecker and it must have been made from the inside by a woodmouse.
Looking expectantly to see what will be in the box!Cleaning one of our nest boxesInspecting the job!
We retired for lunch, a piece of Christmas cake and a comfort break at about 1.25 pm.
The afternoon session….
Re-energised after lunch, and raring to go!
This afternoon, starting from just below the Slabbering Baby, we made our way up the Meanwood Valley Trail and surveyed the final seven nest boxes – six tit boxes and one robin box.
The robin box had not been used. The tit boxes had all been used though one nest appeared not to have been completed. One nest contained five unhatched eggs and another four unhatched eggs. However, since great tits lay seven to nine eggs and blue tits eight to twelve eggs, the nests may well have been successful.
Cleaning nest box 29 at the Slabbering BabyThe nest and four unhatched eggs in nest box 42Measuring the entrance hole on one of our wooden boxes
Friends of Adel Woods made and put up our wooden boxes under the tuition of Steve Joul in January 2010 and January 2011. We also purchased and put up a number of woodstone boxes in 2013. The woodstone boxes are made of a mixture of cement and sawdust. The advantages of woodstone boxes is that they do not rot and are usually easier to clean. On the other hand, they are very heavy!
Cleaning out one of our woodstone boxesWinding up at 4.30 pm
In summary
Yesterday and today we surveyed and cleaned out forty one nest boxes – thirty six tit boxes, four robin boxes and one treecreeper box. Apart from one nest box, for which we do not seem to have made a record, all of the tit boxes were used last Spring. One of the tit boxes was used by a pair of nuthatches. None of the robin boxes had been used by robins, but two had been used by tits for nesting and two by squirrels for roosting. The treecreeper box had been used by a squirrel for roosting.
Thank you to everyone who helped over the weekend: thanks to Steve for letting us use his ladder; and thanks to Andrew who transported the ladder to Alwoodley!
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. Please get in touch by leaving a comment on this website if you would like to take part in our activities.
A fine but cold day for day one of our annual survey and clean of our nest boxes in Adel Woods. At 10 am we had an amazing turnout of nine people - and later on twelve when three more people joined us in the woods!
We have thirty eight tit boxes and four robin boxes in Adel Woods, so we had our work cut out! Tit boxes are the familiar nest boxes with a round hole in the front. Robins will not use tit boxes and prefer a box with a large opening at the front (as shown below) placed near the ground – or not to use a nest box at all.
We need to clean the nest boxes because tits and robins do not re-use nests from previous years. In 2021 we were unable to clean out the nest boxes due to the covid lockdown and when we surveyed the nest boxes in January 2022 we found that in Spring 2021 nests had been built on top of the previous year’s nests. This probably happens all the time in natural nesting holes, but it is not a good start for young chicks because the old nesting material is frequently full of fleas and mites, and sometimes is very wet.
A robin box made by Friends of Adel Woods – note the large entrance.
Our morning’s work
We set off down Crag Lane and then up the “diagonal” path on the right hand side of Crag Lane, just before Old Leo’s car park. We paused at the entrance to the path to have a look at some Yellow Brain fungus (see yesterday’s blog post) and then started work cleaning our first nest box, number 17.
FOAW’s tit boxes have three different sizes of entrance hole. The two larger sizes, 28mm or 32mm, allow access to blue tits, great tits or nuthatches. The smallest entrance hole, 25mm, permits access only for blue tits. Coal tits may use nest boxes, but prefer a nest box only a metre or so above the ground so they do not use our tit boxes which are all at least three metres from the ground.
Nest box 17 seemed to contain two typical tit nests made of moss and grass – a great tit nest containing two unhatched eggs, and, on top of it, a blue tit nest containing one unhatched egg. Blue tit and great tit eggs look very similar, but great tit eggs are slightly bigger (17.5mm x 13.5mm) than blue tit eggs (15.6mm x 12mm).
Replacing the damp proofing on box number 17
We have covered all our wooden tit boxes with damp proofing plastic to keep them dry. This has been very successful over the years, but the plastic gets holes where pecked by the birds and this year we had to replace or patch up many of the nest boxes.
A typical tit nest made of moss, feathers and grass found in box 18
This morning we surveyed eleven tit boxes and two robin boxes. Ten tit boxes had nests inside them, and one a partly built tit nest. Some had one or two unhatched eggs concealed in the nesting material but since great tits lay seven to nine eggs and blue tits eight to twelve eggs, we infer that most of the nests were successful even though some eggs did not hatch. One nest contained the skeleton of a fully formed bird – probably a chick, but perhaps an adult. One contained a sweet chestnut shell, indicating that after the tits departed a wood mouse moved in for a while.
Turning to the robin boxes, one contained lots of leaves and had clearly been used by a squirrel for roosting, while the other contained a partly formed tit nest.
A blackbird nest at the base of a downey birch
One of the most exciting finds was made by Steve Joul when he found a blackbird nest near the ground at the back of the tree on which nest box number 8 was hanging.
No report on our nest box surveys is complete without a photo of Steve climbing a ladder!Nest box material well and truly processed by insects and containing larvae or maggotsViewing “Tina’s nest box” – a posh Schwegler box near Old Leo’s clubhouse
We continued working till about 1.20pm when we adjourned for lunch and a piece of Christmas cake. We had surveyed the nest boxes in Alwoodley Plantation, the boxes on the path running north adjacent to the disused rugby pitch, and the nest boxes on Crag Lane behind the rugby clubhouse.
Our afternoon session
Five of us resumed work at about 2.30pm and surveyed the nest boxes along Crag Lane from the rugby club to the picnic area, and then started to make our way down the Meanwood Valley Trail. surveying and cleaning nine nest boxes – eight tit boxes and one robin box.
The robin box contained a tit nest and leaves on top of it suggesting that a squirrel had used it for roosting. Of the tit boxes, seven contained a nest, and one contained moss which looked very fresh suggested that it may have been put there this year, even though it would be early for tits to start nesting.
A tit nest made in part with man-made fibres – probably from tennis balls
One of the striking features which we always find in tit nests is the use of man-made materials – probably the covering of green, yellow or orange tennis balls – to make the nest.
Black “witches butter” fungus and hairy curtain crust fungus on a tree stump
A propos of nothing we found these excellent examples of fungi this afternoon.
Time for a cup of tea!
We finished work at 4.35 as it was getting too dark to see.
In summary, during today’s survey we found that all the tit boxes were used. The nesting material in some tit boxes was dry, but in some it was very wet indeed – perhaps not surprising in view of the recent months of seemingly relentless heavy rain. Fortunately, today we spruced up twenty one nest boxes for this year’s broods.
Several of the nests contained droppings, indicating that the nest box had been used for roosting, as nesting birds do not defecate in the nest and clean out droppings from chicks.
Thank you to everyone who helped with today’s workparty!
To read more, have a look at tomorrow’s blog entry for day two of our annual nest box survey and clean.
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, and we also put on educational events. We are a very friendly group and welcome new members who want to make new friends and enjoy getting out in the woods.
Yesterday we had heavy rain all day – not a day to encourage people to come out in the woods today. However, we still had an excellent turn out of eight volunteers (including yours truly) – though two didn’t find us till quarter to twelve!
We met in the Stairfoot Lane car park. Our objective today was to clear paths and we split into two teams. The ladies set off to cut back holly and do some litterpicking as required; the gentlemen set off on some muddier (though probably not much muddier) tasks.
Working on clearing the drainage pipe on Crag Lane.
The gentlemen’s first job was to unblock the drainage pipe under Crag Lane, near the picnic area. In all the recent rain, the pipe had become blocked with mud and leaves and there was a large pool across most of the path. It was a matter of a couple of minutes to unblock the pipe so that the pool could drain away. However, it took another twenty minutes or so to clear away all the mud so that it would not block the drain again.
Clearing away mud on Crag Lane.
From there we made our way to the Stairfoot Lane steps which are much used by walkers. On 30th September we had replaced some of the timbers and generally tidied them up. However, since then the Autumn leaves had fallen on them, moles had created a number of mole hills, and the heavy rain of the last few months had washed a lot more mud onto them.
Tidying up the Stairfoot Lane steps – before.
We cleared away the leaves and levelled the surfaces of the steps and – as can be seen from the photograph below – restored them to a beautiful pristine state. We also cut back some of the holly growing over the steps.
The Stairfoot Lane steps – after.
The two work parties met up at 12 noon in the Stairfoot Lane car park. In addition to cutting back holly, the ladies had been road testing two different types of plastic rings for litterpicking – they help keep the mouths of plastic bags open when litterpicking. You can see one of the rings in the photograph below.
Checking out one of the litterpicking rings.
Unfortunately, the ladies did not take any photographs of any of the paths where they cut back holly, but did supply a number of “after” photographs taken on the 12th December – one of which appears below.
Friends of Adel Woods: one of the paths worked on on the 10th December.
All in all a very successful and satisfying day!
A happy band of 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 at the weekend to carry out various jobs, and we also put on educational events – such as birdsong walks, bat walks and fungal forays.
Our next events will be on 13th and 14th January when we will be surveying and cleaning the FOAW nest boxes, and on the 20th January when we will be picking up litter and improving paths.
Further details will be published on our home page over the Christmas holidays. In the meantime, the committee of the Friends of Adel Woods wish you a very merry Christmas and all happiness in 2024!
Today, David Preston and two fellow rangers from the Parks and Countryside Department spent the day working in Adel Woods, carrying out work which is beyond the scope of Friends of Adel Woods because it requires the use of a chainsaw.
They began by completing thinning out silver birches around Adel Crag, and creating habitat piles with the cut wood and scrub to promote biodiversity.
After this they cleared from paths three trees which had fallen in the recent storms (Storm Babet and Storm Ciarán).
The first was a tree which had fallen across the path leading down from the picnic area to the Meanwood Valley Trail – just at the junction with the MVT. Our treasurer, Steph, had already removed all the smaller branches with a pair of loppers, but the main branches needed to be tackled with a chainsaw.
Before: a fallen tree near the Meanwood Valley Trail (just visible, upper right quadrant)And after…
The two other large trees had fallen across a path near Adel Crag. David and his colleagues successfully removed these – a difficult job.
Before:two fallen trees across a footpath near Adel CragAnd after…
Finally, they went down to the Buck Stone, thinnng out 2 small trees, and opening up the area.
The plan is to carry out further work on Adel Bog later this year – removing four trees which are encroaching onto Adel Bog.
Thank you, David, to you and your colleagues for all the good work you do!
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, and we also put on educational events. Recently, we have had a bat walk, and a fungal foray.
Our next “work party” is on Sunday the 10th December, when we will be litter picking, and carrying out path maintenance.
If you would like to take part in our activities, please get in touch by leaving a comment on our website.
A pleasant morning and a good turn out of twelve volunteers.
Five of our volunteers chose to litterpick – including two from Litter Free Leeds! Between them they picked up about four bags of rubbish.
The rest of us helped David Preston, our local ranger, to dredge Adel Pond (also known as Mill Fall pond). This pond is man-made and was dug to supply water to a flax mill that once operated here. The pond fell into disuse and silted up until about thirty years ago when Steve Joul led a team of volunteers in digging it out again. It is now a wonderful habitat for frogs and newts and all sorts of aquatic insects.
Dredging the pond has been an annual task for Friends of Adel Woods every Autumn since (and including) 2009. The first thing we have to do every year is clear out the many large logs and rocks which somehow find their way into the pond. Many are concealed under the water and a bit of a tripping hazard. Fortunately, there was only one minor mishap today!
Once the logs and rocks have been removed, it is a question of digging up silt and putting it into buckets to transport away. Today we had four diggers in the pond, and one principal barrowman.
The pond is fed on the north side by a single ditch bringing in a stream of water throughout the year. Unfortunately, the stream also brings in lots of mud and clay as can be seen in the photos.
It is important, therefore, to clear as much mud and leaves from the ditch as possible and three volunteers focused on this task.
Each year we find in the mud where the stream enters the pond many broken fragments of china. Presumably these are the remains of cups, saucers, jugs and plates thrown into the pond by day trippers when Verity’s Cafe, which used to stand nearby, was in it’s heyday. Or perhaps they were thrown in when Verity’s closed down. This year, one item seemed to be a complete vase but unfortunately it shattered into many fragments as yours truly lifted it out of the mud.
At noon, we ceased work to wash down the equipment before heading home for a shower and a nice Sunday lunch.
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, and we also put on educational events.
If you would like to take part in our activities or be added to our mailing list, please get in touch by leaving a comment on our website. Our next event is on Saturday the 4th November when we will be litterpicking and working on Adel Bog with David Preston.
A nice morning, and a good turnout of nine Friends of Adel Woods.
This was an extra “work party” for the specific purpose of repairing the steps leading down from the Stairfoot Lane car park to Adel Beck, and unblocking the drainage pipe under Crag Lane near the picnic area.
However, three Friends came to litterpick and between them filled four bags of litter. A wonderful achievement!
The Stairfoot Lane steps
The steps were constructed by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers in February 2011. Before that, the traveller had to negotiate a rather steep and muddy bank if walking between the stream and Crag Lane. However, it is a public footpath and so Leeds City Council paid for the work to be done. In October 2012, Friends of Adel Woods added five further steps at the top so there are now thirty six. Sometime in 2013 we replaced the original wooden pegs with iron ones.
Maintaining the steps something we have to do regularly as mud is washed onto the steps when it rains, leaves fall onto the steps each Autumn, and the wooden risers rot. In addition, the local moles like to create mole hills on the steps!
Today, the steps were well on their way to returning to being a steep, muddy slope, and five of the risers needed to be replaced. Two or three more will need to be replaced in a year or so.
Amazingly, the six of us working on this task were able to complete the work, including levelling off all the steps, in an hour and a quarter!
We must have done well because a user of the steps emailed FOAW to tell us that we had done an amazing job – which is always nice to hear.
The drainage pipe under Crag Lane
Friends of Adel Woods working on Crag Lane with Steve Joul on 20th February 2011
Until February 2011, Crag Lane near the picnic area used to turn into a quagmire every time it rained as can be seen in the photograph above. In February 2011 Steve Joul led a team of FOAW volunteers in placing a drainage pipe in the offending area and building up the path using hardcore provided by Leeds City Council.
The path is completely transformed as a result of that work, but the pipe needs to be unblocked a couple of times a year.
Using drainage rods to unblock the drainage pipe.
As one of our volunteers remarked: “I love work: I could watch someone doing it all day!”
Five happy 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, and we also put on educational events – this coming weekend we are putting on a Fungal Foray.
If you would like to take part in our activities, get in touch by leaving a comment on our website.
Looking southwards towards the Buck Stone on Thursday the 7th September 2023
A cool and Autumnal day. And also the day of the Meanwood Valley Trail Race organised by the Meanwood Valley Striders running club, so there were lots of runners in Adel Woods this morning.
Today we had two tasks: litterpicking and clearing scrub from around the Buck Stone.
The Buck Stone is a large outcrop of rock in the woods behind Buckstone Avenue. It has been recorded as a landmark on maps for over two hundred and fifty years and – you are ahead of me! – the Buckstone estate is named after it.
It has been a popular feature in the woods for many years, and members of FOAW can remember playing on it as children over fifty years ago!
Litterpicking
Unusually, we only had one litter picker, Sue, today.
She picked up three bags of rubbish, one of which was a bag of rubbish thrown into the bushes near the Buckstone Road entrance to the woods. She also found gas canisters and balloons in the Stairfoot Lane car park, and a disposable barbecue and box of raw bacon at Adel Crag!
The Buck Stone
Friends of Adel Woods first worked on the Buck Stone in March 2012 at the request of local residents. At that time, it was almost completely covered and hidden from view in the Summer by a large oak tree growing into the eastern end of the rock. We cut back most of the tree and cleared scrub under the guidance of our local ranger, Steve Joul, and restored the landmark to its former glory.
The Buck Stone “before and after” on the 30th March 2012
Since then, we have worked on the Buck Stone on 21 March 2015, 24th April 2016, and 8th April 2017. However, we have not worked on it since 2017 and this morning it was once more largely obscured from view by the oak tree, brambles, himalayan balsam and bracken. In fact, we had not seen such tall bracken and himalayan balsam – some plants were seven to eight feet high.
The southern face of the Buck Stone at 10.25 am this morning
The task looked daunting and the plan was to start from the Buck Stone and move outwards, to get the maximum bang for our Buck! But to begin we had to clear a way through to even reach the Buck Stone! And we also had to clear a space for a compost heap where we could put all the vegetation we removed. This in itself was a big job.
We started with a team of seven volunteers, but thankfully numbers gradually increased till there were twelve of us.
It was hard work, but as usual there was lots of interesting conversation and laughter – each of the Friends working on different parts of the project.
The northern face of the Buck Stone: 11.55 am on Saturday 16th September 2023
We finished at noon, and we achieved far more than we thought we could. Once more, the Buck Stone is a feature of Adel Woods and a place where people can sit, relax and dream, and young children can climb and play and use their imagination.
Thank you to all our volunteers. It is not just the Buck Stone that rocks. You rock too!
The southern face of the Buck Stone, noon on Saturday the 16th September
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, and we also put on educational events. If you would like to take part in our activities, get in touch by leaving a comment on our website.
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
Friends of Adel Woods 
