Our primary task today was to tackle the Himalayan balsam. This plant can create a monoculture which leads to a 25% decrease in biodiversity as it competes for light, water, nutrients and pollinators. We started in areas that have been worked on my Friends of Northcliffe volunteers for several years. It was very encouraging to find only a few plants in the area above the pond, and much reduced populations elsewhere. That’s not to say that there are still masses of plants around, but each plant we removed reduces the seedbank by about 700. So, it’s not exaggerating to claim that we have stopped the development of millions of seeds. Hooray.
In addition to the balsam we also dug out some of one silt trap, and made repairs to the revetment timber wall.