Himalayan balsam pulling at Hackfall Woods: 14-07-2015

Paul’s e-mail this week invited us to ‘balsam pulling and path clearance at Hackfall’, but on arrival the ‘lucky’ 13 NCV’s discovered that ‘path clearance’ was in fact a euphemism for bracken bashing! However, on making our way down to the river it soon became obvious that balsam pulling was the more urgent task. The wretched stuff was everywhere in abundance and getting ready to flower.

With military precision we fanned out across the wood and quickly heaps of the doomed weed appeared across the newly cleared woodland floor.  

Eyes down, bottoms up - the NCVs get busy with the balsam...

Here's a bit.

Here's some more.

There's  loads here.

The balsam, like the bracken last week,

was often enormous....

...and was encroaching fast.

Slowly the front line gets forced back....

and the piles of deceased balsam 

start sprouting up everywhere.

A quick coffee break on the river bank gave time for honing our wild flower identification skills and, for a lucky few, a glimpse of a kingfisher skimming over the water.  The stony nature of the seating arrangements however encouraged a swift return to work.

Riverside dining.

Home is where you hang your coat.

Osian does a war dance on a balsam pile.

 I think that Anita's in here somewhere ...

...oh yes - there she is!

After lunch the balsam offensive continued for most of us while Paul and Dave went off to do a bit of chain sawing. A sizeable area was cleared by 3pm when it was universally agreed that we had done more than enough for one day!  Unfortunately there will still be plenty left for next week.

Now the balsam's gone the other plants can be seen.

Julia