Giant Hogweed 2025
April 22nd, 2014This post records data back to 2002 through to 2024
2025
2024
July 23rd Thankfully it wasn't as big as the image below implies. I was worried my one bag to put the bits in wasn't big enough but it was fine.When I arrived at the site I was rather dismayed to see half a dozen other multiple stemmed plants and cut them. They had matured and were laying down. I needn't have worried as they were most likely Hemlock Water Dropwort. It may well be that an odd Giant Hogweed seed landed amongst them and their growth limited that of the GH. Come to think of it the multiple stems is a give away. The Giant Hogweed rare has more than one stem.
July 22nd One reported near Okel Tor
2023
June 14th None yet2022
May 19th 1 Felling some willow towards the river I came across what looks like a giant hogweed. It's covered in mud but the shape of the leaves define it from common hogweed. It's very small and most likely from an upstream seed.
2021
- April 11th 1 Some 9m ENE of the swamp cypress with substantial roots so must have been there last year.
- April 4th 2 by the boat
2020
- July 15th 1 In the copse near Lowena. Fair size pulled by hand
- April 18th 2 by the boat
- April 15th Traversed the marsh west, through the copse and along the western boundary and saw none, not that I checked overly well.
2019
- June 9th One by the bow of the boat
- May 3rd Searched the west marsh and found one by the channel at the western boundary. More signs of trespass.
- April 29th Removed 9 at the bow of the boat, again and must check again in six weeks or so.
2018
- March 29th Clear north of the boat to the breach
- March 29th Cleared carr and west. Noticedsigns of trespassand increasing damage to bund
Ragwort Diary: 2013 - 2014
June 15th, 2014Diary July 2013
The triangle field
11th July Pulled 152 including half a dozen a few days ago; all from the bottom of the triangle field. Found none anywhere else so far.
13th July Pulled a few adjacent the path on the way to Site 1(g)
15th July Pulled 63 from the bottom of the triangle field, one from the ridge and none from the rest; all the way to the top.
16th July Found 3 along the path on the way back from pulling Himalayan Balsam
17th July Found 1 in the path on the way back from Giant Hogweed expedition and pulling Japanese Knotweed
19th July Found six on the path to the caravan
20th July Pulled 132 from the bottom of the triangle field. That the bag was stuffed shows there were some pretty large plants that had gone unnoticed during earlier travels.
20th July Pulled another 32 this evening on my second attempt to get to the far fields.
21st July Morning: Pulled 15 on travels to and from the far fields.
21st July Evening: Pulled another 14 on travels to the far fields.
22nd July Morning: Found 1 in north west of the far field and 15 more in the bottom of the triangle field on the way to the far north east to plant an Oak tree with Jiva for Gina's birthday.
23rd July: Pulled 55 from the bottom of the field.
24th July: Pulled 28 from the slope upward, most of which were on the western side and 7 from the bottom of the field but north of the track to Riverland.
25th July Found 1 in the path on the way back from pulling Himalayan balsam from the far fields.
26th July
Morning Found 22 in the bottom of the field on the way to and from pulling Himalayan balsam from the far fields
Evening Found 12 more in the bottom of the field on the way to and from pulling Himalayan balsam from the far fields
The Far Fields
20th July Found one in site 1(a) whilst checking for Himalayan Balsam.
21st July Morning: Found 11 in north west of the far field.
22nd July Evening: Found 1 in west of the far field.
Miscellaneous
22nd July: Found one in the bender area.
Pages 2 and 3 are records of work for July & August 2013
Page 5 is the records of work for 2014
Triangle Field:August
Last pull 9 days ago makes quite a difference.
5th August Pulled 87 from the bottom of the triangle field.
6th August Pulled 50 from top of the triangle field.
9th August Pulled 13 from bottom of the triangle field and 2 from the small triangle field; towards the gate.
10th August Pulled 16 from bottom of the triangle field en route to far fields.
18th August Pulled 49 from bottom of the triangle field.
19th August Pulled 19 from top half of the triangle field.
22nd August Pulled 2 from bottom of the triangle field en route to and from the far fields.
24th August Pulled 9 from bottom of the triangle field en route to and from the far fields.
25th August Pulled 2 from bottom of the triangle field en route to and from the far fields
Total for August 2013 247
.
5th September Pulled 44 from bottom of the triangle field and 2 from the small triangle field en route to and from the far fields.
6th September Pulled 12 from bottom of the triangle field and 10 from the top of triangle filed. Later in the evening found one in the Yellow patch in the far field.
20th September Pulled 29 from bottom of the triangle field.
None found it the top of the field
A single large rooted one was found in patch A of Site 1 (Himalayan Balsam map)
26th September Found 1 in bottom of the triangle field on way to far fields.
8th October Found 8 in the bottom of the triangle field and one in patch 1red in the far field.
Diary 2014
The triangle field
13 October Found 1 on way up the field to far fields.
8 October Found 3 on way up the field to get Orange signal.
30 September Found 2 just off the track, on way to the far fields
20 September Found 1 on the track, returning from the far fields
16 September 6 Three to the west, 1 in the middle of the flat north of the track to the far fields and two to the west of the track.
6 September 6 found at the bottom
2 September 6 found on the way to and from the far fields.
21 August 1 just north of the track to the far fields.
16 August 4 in the bottom.
8th August 9 in the bottom and 4 on slope.
30th July 1 in the bottom of the field; on way to the far fields.
27th July (quite a difference from last year as by now I had pulled approx. 450)
Found 18 in the lower part and one to the west side on the slope
1st July
Walked across the bottom but didn't see any?
15th June
Checked halfway across the bottom but didn't see any; too early to be visible above the grass etc. I think?
Far Fields
6 September 1 in north west.
17th August 4 in the north west corner and 1 in the small triangle field near the entrance to the Far Fields
30th July 10 in the north west corner, Riverland, and 1 to the east-south
14th July
Found 1 flowering in the north-east of Riverland and 1 on the path between the top and lower fields thereof.
Total for August 2014 18
Invasive Plants 2026
June 15th, 2026This is a general update on the work in removing invasive plants. Given the area, some 20 acres, it still takes many hours/days just to search.
- Giant hogweed Mostly along the bund and just in from there, but in now very rare.
- Himalayan Balsam Diary and Links
- Japanese Knotweed is mostly confined to an area of the river bund of some 160㎡
- Montbretia is in two small clumps.
- RagwortRagwort has a long history.
- Skunk Cabbage is located over some acre or so in the willow carr.
The wetlands including the SSSI and adjacent fields are checked every few weeks from April to October, starting with the Japanese Knotweed location. Then thebrush cuttingof vegetation along the river bund to enable easier access.
In the list below the each bio-hazard icon ☣ represents an hours work.
- July 5th: ☣ ☣ ☣ Clearing bund with Makita
- July 4th: ☣ ☣ ☣ ☣ Himalayan Balsam from Site 2
- June 18th: ☣ Stihl with blade to clear path across south of Far Field
- June 14th: ☣ Makita to clear bund down to boat and north
- June 14th: ☣ FS460 to clear path across △
- June 13th: ☣ Makita to clear path across △
- June 6th: ☣☣ 2 hours clearing bund from the north
- May 15th: ☣Apart from scooting around a few Bluebells and Red campion the bund is cleared north to some 5m beyond the 'felled willow.
- May 12th: ☣ ☣After noticing many bluebells I decided to do three small areaS First was continuation north, past the Elder tree a little, where a few bluebells were cut. Secondly I went to the JK patch and cleared the bund there and south a bit to the willow with purple toothwart. I can then rake up the debris and bring it back to monitor it. Thirdly the area that dips below the cut willow on the bund.
- May 10th: ☣ Further along the bund north
- May 8th:Further along the bund north
- May 5th: ☣ ☣ Cleared bund from north to breach
- Apr 27th: ☣Down to the boat and 80m along the bund north from 27th April |
- April 26th: ☣
- March 24th: Found 2 JK
Total = 21 hours
