Friday 11 September 2015

Summary 2015

In July, local volunteers and a group from Lloyds Bank tackled both sides of the riverbank between Glebe Fields and Meadow Mead. A couple of weeks later, we went back and cleared up some stragglers and some new growth in the same area.


In August, using the waders we received from SITA Trust, we were able to wade along the river bed from the footbridge just off Mill Lane upstream to the flow measuring station. The people whose houses back on to the river do a pretty good job of keeping the Himalayan Balsam under control and we were able to clear out the remaining patches along this stretch of the river. Unfortunately we weren't able to get past the small weir at the measuring station and had to retrace our steps back down the river.

In mid August a group of us went into the field behind St Peter's Church. This looks as though it has been neglected for years and there is a huge amount of balsam in it. We were able to do a couple of hours work before it started to rain. A week or so later John and I went back and did a bit more but we barely scratched the surface as far as clearing this area is concerned



Fortunately some stretches of the river are still clear of Himalayan Balsam.