\n They say Himalayan balsam, which has been likened to Japanese knotweed, is \u201crampant\u201d along the Severn and the Teme.\n<\/p>\n
\n Residents fear an abundance of the weed, which leaves riverbanks bare and vulnerable to erosion, could lead to the loss of riverside footpaths.\n<\/p>\n
\n HARD AT WORK: Maria Baldwin pulling up Himalayan balsam (Image: Maria Baldwin)\n<\/p>\n
\n Maria Baldwin went out \u201cbalsam bashing\u201d with five friends on Tuesday evening, clearing a small patch of land south of the Kepax bridge on the west side of the river.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: \u201cThe balsam is rampant along most of the Severn and the Teme.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe chose this part as the footpaths are closed to the north of Kepax bridge – this particular path is the only natural wooded path accessible to residents on the north side of the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe are fearful that if the balsam continues to take over, the perennial weeds such as nettles will be overrun, which will cause the riverbank to collapse when it floods and we will lose yet another footpath.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The Northwick Slip, a footpath once popular with residents and dog walkers, has been closed since 2021 following a collapse.\n<\/p>\n
\n INVASIVE: Himalayan balsam’s flowers are attractive but the plant is damaging to riverbanks (Image: Maria Baldwin)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAs a health and wellbeing coach, I believe these footpaths are not a luxury, but an essential resource to support the health and wellbeing of city residents,\u201d said Maria.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAs well as being great exercise and a great way to meet up with friends, being out for a walk in nature by the river calms the nervous system and is a great antidote to stressful lives.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n She said her group managed to clear hundreds of balsam plants in less than an hour-and-a-half, but warned: \u201cIt is not enough.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf every person who walks down the riverside paths were to pull up 20 plants, then together, we might be able to reduce and eliminate the balsam, and protect our remaining footpaths.\n<\/p>\n
\n CLEARED: Volunteers cleared a small area near the Kepax bridge this week (Image: Maria Baldwin)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe plants are now seeding and it would have been much better to do this earlier in the season.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe are planning to do this regularly next year and encourage others to do the same.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The Canal and River Trust describes Himalayan balsam as an \u201cimposing weed which is negatively impacting vital canalside habitats and outcompeting native species\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n Easy to spot in the summer with its attractive pink-purple flowers, Himalayan balsam was introduced to Britain in the 1800s as an ornamental garden plant but soon established itself in the wild.\n<\/p>\n
\n It is now listed under schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which means it is illegal to cause it to grow in the wild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They say Himalayan balsam, which has been likened to Japanese knotweed, is \u201crampant\u201d along the Severn and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-83851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}