Friends of Gledhow Valley Woods had an action day today. Volunteers worked on a variety of tasks to conserve and maintain this area of woodland in Leeds.

Gledhow Valley Woods is a small area of woodland nestled between areas of dense housing. To the South is Harehills, West is Chapeltown, North is Chapel Allerton and East is Oakwood. Residents of these areas anjoy the shared amenity of the woodland, which is maintained by a group of volunteers.

The Friends of Gledhow Valley Woods have been working for the last 14 years to maintain this resource for the benefit of all. Some members of the group have been looking after the woods informally even before then. Today we had a look at some photos taken 30 years ago in what was then known as the meadow. Since then, much of that area has been overgrown, and today we set about clearing it.

Although trees are the largest plant species growning in the woods, there is a great diversity of smaller species. The woodland is managed so as to maximise biodiversity within a small area. This requires some grassland areas to be kept clear of saplings and shrubs, which would otherwise dominate within a few years. There are also wet habitats along the course of the Gledhow Beck and lake.

As well as clearing the meadow today, a few of us went litter-picking, someone worked on controlling the Himalayan Balsam, and a team of us built a stretch of path. The reason for building the path was that before there was just packed earth, which is OK in dry weather but when it rains, the path gets very muddy: people try to avoid walking through the muddy puddles, so they walk along the edge of the path, with the result that it gets wider and wider as people try to avoid the mud. As the path is heavily used, this could result in severe erosion if unchecked.

Anyone who wants to get involved next time would be welcome - keep an eye on this webpage for dates.