Field behind St Peter's Church

Last year the field behind St Peter's Church was relatively clear of balsam so we didn't bother clearing it. In retrospect this might have been a mistake as this year it was quite badly infested again. The area near the gate was worst and there were a couple of clumps near to the churchyard but the far end of the field was reasonably clear apart from some large plants low down on the river bank.

Before clearing

Since it was quite late in the season we just went in with slashers and cut the balsam down rather than pulling it up.

Although some seed pods were popping, we didn't see any which had fully ripened so hopefully we'll have done enough to reduce the level of infestation again.

After clearing