A glorious sunrise over Alwoodley at 8 am, after several days of intense cold.
This morning, five of us met in the Stairfoot Lane carpark at 10 am. Although the weather had started to thaw, the carpark was still a dangerous sheet of ice.
Our goals this morning were path clearing and litterpicking.
Clearing holly along the “middle” path
We all set off together to the steps down to the stream and took the path to the left about four steps down. As we went, we trimmed back holly and removed as far as we could branches which had fallen across the path.
Just before we reached Adel Bog, we found a couple of trees had fallen across the path. They were too big for us to tackle, but we removed branches which were not supporting the trees. As we did so, we found an old blackbirds nest among the branches.
A blackbird’s nest in Adel Woods
When we reached the Slabbering Baby, we went down to Spring Hill bridge and made our way back along the path alongside the stream all the way to Stairfoot Cottage.
Clearing obstacles along the path by the stream
While we were making our way along the paths, Peter picked up a bag of litter.
Thank you to all who took part this morning!
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.
It has been a beautiful week weatherwise, with soaring temperatures yesterday. Still a nice day today, but fortunately a lot cooler at 10 am this morning.
Twelve Friends today: four of us to pick up litter and eight of us clearing paths.
Having furnished the litter pickers with equipment and bags, the path clearers set off with the ultimate aim of widening the path that runs South across the meadow between the picnic area and the Meanwood Valley Trail.
First, though, we made our way to the path heading north off Crag Lane from the back of Old Leo’s clubhouse. The entrance to this path had become much narrower due to encroaching grass, nettles, brambles and other plants, and so we widened the entrance and trimmed back the more prominent holly further up the path. We also removed a large fallen branch from the path.
From there we made our way back to Crag Lane, heading in the direction of the picnic area. However, we had only gone a few yards when one of our Friends made the amazing discovery of a mole snuffling around in the foliage at the edge of the path.
A mole wandering about on Crag Lane
We all stopped work to have a look at him or her. It was the first time your correspondent had ever seen a mole – and probably the first time any of us had! We didn’t touch the mole but watched it wander around. It seemed completely unaware of our presence, but also seemed not to know where it was going. We speculated that it had lost its way and could not make its way back underground because the ground was so hard. One of us poured out some water for it and it immediately lapped it up. We were worried for its safety as we could hear dogs nearby, but fortunately it made its way into the undergrowth and we left it to its own devices. What an exciting start to the day!
As we made our way along Crag Lane, we cut back foliage which was encroaching most onto the path.
Once we reached the picnic area, we took the path down to the Meanwood Valley Trail which had become very narrow. But first, two of us made a detour to ensure that the drainage pipe under the path just beyond the picnic area was clear. We dug out the mud from the entrance and exit ditches, and cleared the mud from the pipe.
Clearing the drainage pipe near the picnic area
By now, the sun was out and it was hot work clearing the path. One or two of our Friends were extremely pink in the face! However, we made good progress before finishing at 12 noon.
Widening the path from the picnic area down to the Meanwood Valley Trail
Having finished work, some of us went to have a look at the orchids in the orchid meadow (otherwise known as the cricket meadow).
Friends of Adel Woods in full colour after a very enjoyable morning
The meadow was an absolute picture, full of buttercups and orchids, clover and all sorts of grasses and other wild plants.
Common spotted orchids, buttercups and clover in the orchid meadow, Adel Woods
We first discovered this meadow in 2014. At that time it contained a large number of common spotted orchids but it was in a poor state: trees and Himalayan Balsam were beginning to take over. We began work on the meadow under the supervision of Steve Joul in 2016 and it has been transformed into a wonderful haven for wild flowers and insects. We have removed the trees and most of the Himalayan Balsam, and Steve has mown the meadow each Autumn for the last three years. Our new ranger, David Preston, is planning to mow the meadow again this Autumn.
You can see what the meadow looked like in 2016 here.
Thank you to all the Friends who joined us today. The litter pickers picked up about three bags of litter.
The orchid meadow, 18 June 2022. There are a lot more orchids than you might think!
Today it was a beautiful day – you wouldn’t think that only five days earlier there was snow on Park Row and the Headrow!
An elite team cleared paths, litterpicked and recycled the Christmas Wreaths for re-use next year. Only 291 days to Christmas!
While Steph, Win and Michelle litterpicked and worked on the wreaths, David, Andrew and your correspondent ventured into the woods to clear holly from the paths.
David took time to demonstrate arcane Tai Chi techniques with bow saws!
The Parks Department have been doing a fair amount of work in the woods in the last week or two – felling trees, and bulldozing the cycle track on the other side of Stairfoot Lane (nothing to do with Friends of Adel Woods). We were shocked to discover that they had removed our pile of crushed sandstone – apparently to improve the bridle path on the other side of Stairfoot Lane.
A beautiful if cold morning. Despite the nippy start, a good turnout of fifteen Friends, all in good humour, met in the Stairfoot Lane carpark.
We had a group of litterpickers, a group of path clearers, and a chain gang adding five new steps to the top of the steps from the stream.
Your correspondent was embedded with the chain gang, helping Ade to load wheelbarrows with the remains of our pile of crushed sandstone in the carpark and to take them down to the steps. Hence all of the photographs today are of this aspect of our work.
Five new steps were artistically sculpted into the hillside under the expert guidance of Steve Joul. Of course not everyone took it so seriously!
You couldn’t make it up!
“Aren’t they good!”
At about noon our intrepid team of path clearers arrived having cleared branches from paths as far afield as the Seven Arches and Adel Bog. They were desperate to try out the new steps.
We finished at about about 12.30pm, in good spirits.
Thank you to everyone who took part today. You have changed history!
A big thank you to a team from Deloitte who, under Steve Joul’s leadership, successfully carried out the gargantuan task of tidying up the Hospice Woodland.
The woodland had become rather overgrown and the team had to remove brambles, branches and even some trees to re-establish reasonable access. A member of the FOAW committee has walked through the woodland and says that as a result of Deloitte’s work it has been vastly improved.
A very successful morning litterpicking, marking the route of the Meanwood Valley Trail, and path clearance. Here you can see a gate post near the Slabbering Baby. Steve Joul painted an arrow on it 20 years ago. The arrow was still on the gate post, but hidden by 20 years growth of vegetation. We cleared it and gave the arrow a fresh lick of paint.
Hopefully, fewer people will lose their way on the Meanwood Valley Trail in future!
Friends of Adel Woods 