Halt the Invasion!

Halt The Invasion! Avon Invasive Weed Forum Newsletter Winter 2011/12 Welcome to the second Avon Invasive Weed Forum Newsletter! This newsletter aims to keep you up-to-date with all of the progress on the Avon Invasive Weed Forum project, to let you know all about the hard work being done on the ground and also to keep you informed about up and coming events. It's been a while since we have produced a newsletter but that's not to say that nothing has been happening! Read on to find out about events that took place last year, exciting new funding news for a future project and an update on the national situation. In this Issue: Update from the AIWF Defra funded project 11/12 Himalayan Balsam Japanese Knotweed Giant Hogweed Round up of weed pulling events in 2011 The Avon Invasive Weed Forum The Avon Invasive Weed Forum is a project led by The Environment Current UK news on Agency and Bristol City Council. The Forum Group, which was non-natives established in 2008, is made up of a number of organisations including the Avon Frome Partnership, the Bristol Regional Environmental Records Interesting weed facts Centre, Avon Wildlife Trust, British Waterways, Network Rail and South Gloucestershire, Bath & North East Somerset and North Somerset unitary Volunteer opportunities authorities. The project also has support from several local individuals, students and local conservation groups. Events for 2012 Non-native invasive weeds are plants introduced into Britain by man, which have established and spread rapidly causing decline or elimination of native plants and other native wildlife. This invasion transforms habitats and whole ecosystems throughout our countryside. They can also have a major impact on buildings and other structures, costing thousands of pounds to deal with. As well as fighting the weeds on the ground, one of the forum’s main aims is to raise awareness of the issue and to encourage the eradication or control of non-native invasive weeds where possible in the area. The project has focussed on three particular weeds; Himalayan Balsam, Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed whose primary habitats are along river banks. Since 2008 many different practical tasks have taken place on various watercourses in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, some organised directly by AIWF and some others organised by AIWF partners. Current Projects In 2011 the Department for environment, food and rural affairs To keep up to date (Defra) announced that they had funding available for Local Action with what is happening Groups to deliver Water Framework Directive targets with a specific please keep an eye pot which is directed at tackling the problem of invasive weeds in on the website: watercourses. AIWF applied to Defra last autumn for funding to continue and www.aiwf.org.uk expand their work and were fortunate in gaining funding for a three month project from January - March 2012. Defra has also invited us Or contact us: to re-apply for funding which, if successful, will enable a much larger three year project to go ahead. Project Co-ordinator: Victoria Freke Miriam Woolnough has been employed part time on a short term [email protected] contract by the AIWF. Her main tasks over the next three months will be to develop training courses; one of which will be aimed at enabling Temporary project community groups and volunteers to feel confident in running their own officer: Balsam pulling events along their local watercourses, and the other Miriam Woolnough training event will be aimed at council officers and large landowners Miriam.woolnough@ and will look at plant identification, the legislation surrounding invasive bristol.gov.uk weeds and different ways of control. All of the training events will include a practical on-site element. She will also be carrying out a desk-top survey of invasive species that are lesser known in their distribution in the Avon area - plants such as Floating Pennywort, Parrots Feather and Water Primrose, creating newsletters and continuing the 'Be Plantwise' campaign with local garden centres. If AIWF is successful with their bid for funding for the next financial year then as well as the training events there will be a whole raft of surveys and activities planned to combat the invasive weeds. Round up of local action in 2011 Halt the Invasion at Manor Woods, Bristol In July and August 2011 the Forum and around 40 volunteers (including several staff from the Environment Agency) joined members of the Malago Valley Conservation Group (MVCG) to help them successfully Halt the Invasion on the banks of the River Malago at Manor Woods Valley Local Nature Reserve in Bishopsworth, Bristol. Almost all of the Himalayan balsam growing in the reserve was pulled out. This meant that the volunteers were also able to do a spot of Himalayan Balsam clearing along the banks of the nearby Colliters Brook in Ashton Vale which has also been invaded by this alien species. These weed pulling events follow on from several previous events held in 2010, 2009 and 2008. Since the first efforts in 2008, there has been a noticeable decline in the amount of Himalayan Balsam growing in certain areas of the site. A big thank you is owed to a special lady, Marie Jo Coutanche, who felt strongly that native plants were being pushed out by Himalayan Balsam. She has been out on many occasions pulling weeds out with other keen members of MVCG and friends. Thank you Marie Jo! A few stands of Japanese knotweed, another non-native invasive species, have been sprayed by Bristol City Council as part of the annual spraying program. It is hoped that with last year’s efforts, there will be even less weeds growing this season, and hopefully our native species may make a bit of a come back! Victoria Freke, Project Co-ordinator, AIWF [email protected] Volunteers working by the River Malago - summer 2011 Round up of local action in 2011 Controlling Himalayan Balsam in the vicinity of Nailsea The Friends of Towerhouse Wood and the Nailsea Environment and Wildlife Trust (NEWT) have been busy controlling Himalayan Balsam in the Nailsea area. Terry Smith from the group has sent in the following report: In 2006 we found a large amount of Himalayan Balsam in Spilsbury Wood, which is close to Towerhouse Wood (ancient woodland, about 1 km to the north of Nailsea, owned by the Woodland Trust), but serious efforts to remove it were not started until 2008, when three work groups began an eradication project. In that year we had help from some young adults with learning difficulties, staff from Timberland, the outdoor-clothing store based at Cribbs Causeway and a group organised by Voluntary Action North Somerset Hilary West and Ines (VANS). The BTCV ‘Green Gym’ also contributed to this project. Hughes pulling Balsam in 2009. This area is now We now believe that our work has enabled us to virtually eliminate this almost clear weed from the original site in Spilsbury Wood, but we have now found several other clusters around the wood. One local garden was covered in Balsam, but with the owner’s agreement we have been able to reduce this considerably, although we may need to keep this under review. We hope that our strategy will eventually lead to its extermination in this area, although we anticipate the need to follow up this campaign for several years. Rather worryingly, we have been finding the Balsam to the north of Nailsea, particularly in Tickenham. The area around Long Ashton including Ashton Court certainly needs attention. Unfortunately some people knowingly grow it as a garden plant without realizing that it can cause problems. If this plant is also in agricultural land, it will be difficult to manage, as the establishment of land ownership is not easy. We are especially anxious to prevent the seed from reaching the river valleys, Kenn and Land Yeo, as elimination from these sites could be time consuming and expensive. For more information on this project or find out how to get involved please contact Terry The plants held by Smith on [email protected] Annette Stenhouse are well over 2 metres high. Round up of local action in 2011 Himalayan Balsam control at Bradley Stoke Local Nature Reserve The Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve in Bradley Stoke is 66 hectares of L shaped land running down the eastern edge of and across to the middle of the town. It is formed principally around the courses of two streams, the Patchway Brook and the Stoke Brook which meet at a small lake which drains via the Bradley Brook to Winterbourne and the River Frome. The Enemy –get it before it flowers! The reserve is maintained by South Gloucestershire Council (Sgc) assisted by volunteers from the Three Brook Nature Conservation Group (TBNCG) who carry out monthly work days on the reserve and a smaller BTCV Green Gym group formed from members of the TBNCG who carry out weekly three hour work sessions also on the reserve. Details of both are available via the group’s web site http://www.three-brooks.info/main.php Dave Baker from TBNCG explains the group’s approach to dealing with Himalayan Baslam –All the stream environs are/were liberally populated with Himalayan Balsam but an annual routine of repeatedly pulling plants in specific areas has greatly reduced the level of infestation in some areas. The initial area addressed was an area of marshland at the South Western end of the reserve. Four years of repeated treatment reduced the level of balsam to a level clearable in a single day.

Load more