Greygarth: 05-07-2022

 

Bikinis on?

Well obviously no. At least, not if you were an NCV working at Greygarth this week. It may have been the 76th anniversary of the invention of this scanty piece of swimwear, but the idea of NCVs shimmying around in neat little two pieces whilst trying to pull balsam would break all kinds of health and safety regs. (It would probably also put everyone off their lunches!) No - full sets of protective gear were needed as the group readied their strimmers, slashers and gloved hands before heading off to do battle (again) against their hated foe.

And here they are - a small, but perfectly formed, group 

waiting patiently to go into battle.

Slasher Tom wastes no time and gets busy with his blade,

wherever the balsam was big enough to be slashable.

Many of the plants were still only at the micro-salad stage 

and needed hunting for in amongst the reed tussocks.

And there was no shortage of reed tussocks!

Liz got the strimmers out, which enabled one 

of the ponds to be strimmed within the day.

Of course, this will not have destroyed

 the micro salad leaves.

Man in hat enjoys a day out in Nidderdale.

(Dave A. can always be relied on for a smile!)

Andrew was difficult to control - 

he was dizzy with the excitement of it all.

Line up! Line up!! Feeding time!

The NCVs had to take a bit of care not to harm 

some other pink flowered plants that were growing 

in the area, such as betony and foxgloves.

They noticed that there was a good 

deal of cuckoo spit on the balsam.

This white foam is created by insects called frog hoppers

which lay their eggs in the moist blobs.

It seemed to be distorting the newest leaves and flowers.

Could it be an ally in the eradication of plant?

The answer to the last question above is probably no. BUT - a little nugget of comfort could be had by anyone reading this week's article on the treatment of balsam at Hell Wath nature reserve near Ripon. The development of that balsam eating fungus we first heard of a long time ago is now being trialled. Who knows, maybe one day this task will be a thing of the past for NCVs?

🤞