A day by the river with Tyne Rivers Trust

Building on the success of our previous sustainability focused volunteering days – beach cleaning with the Marine Conservation Society and tree planting with Living Woods – this year we decided to do something a bit different and teamed up with the Tyne Rivers Trust for a day of invasive species removal on the banks of the river Tyne at Wylam, Northumberland.

The Tyne Rivers Trust is a registered environmental charity dedicated to improving the River Tyne and its catchment through education, tackling pollution and practical conservation. Projects include natural flood management, repairing and reinforcing riverbanks, improving fish populations, native species recovery programmers, measuring and improving river health, and tackling invasive species.

The Trust works with other organisations in the north east to provide a coordinated approach for the prevention, early detection, rapid response and long-term control of invasive species. Like many rivers, the Tyne has been colonised by non-native plants which can spread rapidly and grow densely, altering the composition of the plants on riverbanks and reducing the amount of habitat available for native species. Three invasive plants of note which affect the Tyne are Japanese Knotweed, Himalayan Balsam and Giant Hogweed.

Our focus was Himalayan Balsam. With its green foliage and attractive pink flowers, it was originally introduced as a garden plant but escaped into the wild and rapidly became one of the UK’s most invasive species. Growing densely on riverbanks, it outcompetes native species, reduces native biodiversity, erodes river banks and hinders flow in times of high rainfall. As an annual plant, it dies back in the winter and can leave riverbanks bare and liable to erode. 

Thankfully it’s easy to pull up and quick to clear. Each plant contains around seven hundred seeds so, if you catch it before it goes to seed, you can stop thousands if not millions of seeds from exploding into the surrounding area and potentially being washed downstream.
On 11th July, a group of 14 Coatsinkers assembled in Wylam, meeting with Carol and Xerxes from the Tyne Rivers Trust and Liz, a representative from Wylam Parish Council who is also the local tree warden. After a brief intro and safety talk we donned wellies and gloves and walked through the woods to a densely infested area. Over about four hours we cleared approximately 180 metres of growth along the riverbank, removing thousands of plants and preventing millions of seeds from being released.

As well as being easy to spot and remove, it’s also very satisfying; a gentle pull near the root and it comes out with a pleasing pop. Breaking up the plant prevents re-rooting and the dead plants are left to rot down naturally.

We had a fulfilling and surprisingly relaxing day. After several days of rain the weather was kind, staying dry and mild. It’s always nice to take some time away from our home offices, get together, get out in nature and hopefully make a positive impact in our local area. Carol recently updated me to say she’s revisited the site with a representative from Defra and they were very impressed about the amount we’d cleared and the impact it’s had on the area.

Thanks to Carol Yesson – Volunteer Coordinator, Xerxes Setna – Comms Manager, and Liz Bray – Wylam Parish Council, for teaching and supporting us. Thanks as always to our COO, Eddie, for funding this event and to my lovely fellow volunteers, Amanda, Nate, Paul, Chelsea, Fernanda, Danilo, Rich, Ricardo, Sue, Luke, Pedro, Simon and Max <3 <3 <3