Hampshire
and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has been working with landowners and
volunteers to reduce the impact of invasive non-native plants from the banks of
the Lymington River, Mill Lawn Brook, Passford Water, Cadnam River and Avon
Water, as part of the Heritage Lottery funded New Forest ‘Our
Past, Our Future’ Landscape Partnership Scheme.
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| Himalayan Balsam |
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| Skunk Cabbage |
The project is working hard to control plants like Himalayan Balsam,
Japanese Knotweed, Skunk Cabbage and Giant Hogweed from wetland habitats in the
New Forest.
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| Giant Hogweed |
Over
the summer
the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s New Forest Non Native Plant
Project has seen 248 different volunteers help clear Himalayan Balsam from 89 sites,
clocking up over 2250 hours of work.
Amongst the
balsam volunteers this summer were a couple of members of Lymington
& District Naturalists - a special thank you to Jill
Newman and Brian Matthews. Jill and Brian
came out on pulls we carried out at the Lymington Reed Beds Nature Reserve,
where we managed to clear five hectares of balsam from the site of special
scientific interest.
The balsam
pulling programme is already being put together for 2017. It is a wonderful opportunity to visit some
beautiful stretches of wet woodland/river and do something to improve the
habitat. If you fancy helping or would like more information then please
contact Joanne Gore on joanne.gore@hiwwt.org.uk or 07770
918293/ 023 8042 4205