Upstream from Black Rocks

Almost exactly a year ago we paid a first visit to the area of little islands between Black Rocks and Cogmill. On that occasion, the river was too deep to wade and the area was almost covered in Balsam. We had to revisit the following week to finish clearing.

In contrast, this year the river was not much more than ankle deep and there was far less balsam to clear. However some plants were already more than two metres tall and the first flowers had appeared.

We were able to clear all of the little islands and some of the field edge on the far bank. Another visit in a few weeks time will probably be necessary to tidy up any stragglers which we missed amongst the tangled undergrowth and also to tackle more along the field edge.

First session of 2017

Balsam is already growing strongly (3 to 4ft tall) so we had our first session of the year on a warm spring day. Starting at Parsonage Bridge, we cleared along the river bank upstream, tackled a big clump at the grassy area off Meadow Mead and cleared some patches near the community orchard.

There are still a few more patches to clear which can only be reached from the river bed but it was a good start to the year's activity.

Spring 2017 - Survey along the Frome

On Easter Monday, I walked up the river from Nightingale Bridge to Cogmill to see whether there were any signs of balsam, and also  to enjoy the bluebells.

Although still early in the season there are already signs of balsam growing at various places along the river.  I spotted balsam in the field edge downstream from Bridge House, along the bank by the community orchard and by the open area off Meadow Mead. There's certain to be more I didn't spot. Most plants are just a few inches tall so pulling in any quantity would be back breaking work.



Also on my walk I kept a look out for rubbish in the river. The worst examples were a gas cylinder and a garden chair. There are also some fallen trees which are collecting rubbish


On a more positive note, the walk along the river was very pleasant and the bluebells were looking good!

Autumn along the Frome

Here are a few photos taken on a walk along the Frome Valley which was made all the more pleasant by the complete absence of Himalayan Balsam!

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Nightingale Bridge revisited October 5th 2016

A walk down Hillyfields to Nightingale Bridge in early October showed two things. First, all the balsam plants pulled by volunteers and stacked in piles have vanished, allowing new grass and other vegetation to grow in the mild weather. Second, a handful balsam plants have had the sheer nerve to spring up and flower near the back of the patch which was cleared by volunteers.  The overall picture is, however, of a job well done!

These two pictures show the area to the left of Nightingale Bridge. The bottom one is 'before', and the top one was taken in October.  You could not tell that this field was so heavily invaded.

2016 Summary

We started pulling Himalayan Balsam in the last week of May. At this stage some plants were two or three feet tall but the majority were less than a foot. This made pulling a more backbreaking task as well as being less satisfying than pulling out larger plants. However we cleared quite a lot in the field behind St Peter's Church which resulted in far fewer there later in the year.

Throughout the summer we've been going out almost weekly when the weather permitted. We've covered the Frome from the metal footbridge near to Cogmill down to just beyond Nightingale Bridge. In summary:

• from Cogmill down to Mill Lane, the near bank is not heavily infested though there are a few clumps and isolated plants amongst the other growth. The far bank is very bad in places. It's possible to access the upper part of the far bank via the metal footbridge though the water level dropped sufficiently by mid July to make wading across possible.
• the field behind St Peter's Church was not as bad as last year but will need regular visits to get it completely under control.
• Glebelands and Meadow Mead were much better than previous years. Much of the growth there could only be accessed by wading and some was still inaccessible because of deep water.
• the grounds of Bridge House were heavily infested as was the riverbank on the other side.
• below Bridge House the field edge and river bank were quite bad in the first field. The second field was much better than last year.
• the edge of Hilly Fields was very bad as were the paddocks on the other side of Nightingale Bridge.

We finished pulling in the second week of September. Although many plants had ripe seeds by then there were still many which didn't.

In total, local volunteers spent about 100 hours on balsam pulling. This was boosted by other groups organised by AIWF who spent a further 70 hours. Assuming each person pulls 60 balsam per hour, this represents 6,000 balsam by locals plus 4,200 balsam by others. Assuming an average of 400 seeds per plant, we have therefore prevented 2.4 million plus 1.7 million, ie 4.1 million seeds in total, from entering the environment!

One last session

John and I took a walk up to Cogmill, clearing a few stragglers on the way up there. A little before the metal footbridge, there were a couple of clumps on both sides of the river. Some seeds were ripe so we were careful to collect and bag as many as we could. We then moved upstream beyond the metal footbridge clearing and bagging as we went. Apart from one or two deepish spots this stretch was quite easy to wade.

Metal footbridge near Cogmill

Some plants had already shed all their seeds and were starting to die back. Next year, we'll have to try to tackle this area earlier.