Time to pull some balsam

8 Goodgymers helped their local community in Kingston upon Thames
Emma Crowe
Sabir Babaiy Majdar
Claire Dunne
Tom Peacock
Rachel White
Dave White
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Kingston upon Thames

Tuesday 11th July 2023

Credits
Merton runner

WALK LEADER

Rachel White
Rachel White

SESSION ORGANISER

DOCUMENT CHECKER

PHOTOGRAPHER

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Dave White
Dave White

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Report written by Tom Peacock

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The longer summer goes on, the more of the dastardly Himalayan Balsam appears on the riverbanks. This pretty pink but invasive plant can spread its seeds far and wide and grows so fast and tall that it crowds out other native species.

Luckily a top team made it down on a muggy evening at Elmbridge Meadows to help the Friends of Berrylands Nature Reserve. Mountains of uprooted plants quickly built up over our hour as Rachel, Sabir, Emma, Jade, Tom, Emily, Claire, and Dave pulled them up.

A few bramble scratches and nettle stings, but we made it out alive.

It’s a strange but quite satisfying task and one of the most interesting and rewarding things that Andrew, representing the group, explained, was that the patches that many of us worked on last year have had notably fewer balsam plants returning this time around, so what we are doing is definitely making a difference.


This task supported
Friends of Berrylands Nature Reserve
An amazing local conservation group

Many conservation and environmental projects are organised by this group!

See more

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